Adventure gone Mini
by Jadeile
Summary: Sidon is given a Sheikah Slate and sets out to travel with Link to register warp points for convenient travel in the future. When a malfunction shrinks them down, and they meet little people called the Minish, they have to change their plans from "fun adventuring" to "getting out of this mess". Don't worry if you haven't played The Minish Cap, the fic tells you all you need know.
1. Are we… Are we leaving right away?

Link couldn't help the huge grin on his face. The sight before him was just too precious for words, even the signed kind.

Sidon was holding a brand new Sheikah Slate in his hands, eyes the widest they could get and his mouth open in awe. His gills were fluttering rapidly in excitement, and even his tail was wagging back and forth like it just didn't know what to do with itself. He was so utterly flabbergasted that all of his princely manners had vanished completely, leaving him a gawking dork that Link wanted to cherish in his memories forever.

"I- really- for me?" Sidon stuttered, apparently unable to believe his luck and barely able to tear his eyes away from the device to look at Link in disbelief. "Shouldn't… Shouldn't the first one go to Queen Zelda, seeing how the original one was hers before you got it?"

Link shook his head, a smug grin on his lips.

'She is too busy to make much use of it, so she can wait for the next one', he signed, 'Purah is making more now that she's figured out how.'

Sidon nodded dumbly, glanced at his new Slate again, then finally broke into a huge smile and grabbed Link into a one-armed hug. Link laughed breathlessly, and patted Sidon's bicep.

"Thank you! Thank you so very much!" Sidon exclaimed, nuzzling Link's hair with his crest and mussing it halfway loose from its hair tie. "I will make use of this to the utmost of my ability!"

Link knew what would happen next, and waited for it with a small smile. Any moment now.

Sidon suddenly ceased his affections, freezing in place. Then he slowly pulled away from Link and gave him a sheepish look.

"It just occurred to me that I have no idea how to use this", Sidon said with an awkward little chuckle. "Do you suppose you could teach me?"

Link's smile widened, and he brought his hands up to sign.

'I don't know', he signed with a mischievous look, 'I had to learn on my own and managed just fine.'

Sidon looked shocked for a moment, then caught on to Link's expression. He chuckled again and shook his head exasperatedly.

"I seem to recall that you received instructions as well", he said, "but I'll bite. Would you, my most talented and incredible friend, please teach me?"

Link blushed at the compliments; he had only wanted a 'please' or just to see Sidon's shocked face. But compliments were always nice too, so he wasn't complaining. He nodded quickly before Sidon decided to lay it on even thicker, which he didn't think he could handle as gracefully.

Sidon smiled again. "Splendid! May we begin right away, before my duties catch up to me?"

Right, he had another surprise for his friend. Link gave him an excited smile.

'About that', he signed, 'I already asked your father the King before coming to see you, and he agreed to me taking you out on an adventure to unlock the most useful ability of the slate: the warping.'

Sidon gave him a blank look for a moment, before his face brightened in recognition.

"You mean when you appear in the shrine or disappear in a blue light!"

Link nodded. 'Exactly. You need to register shrines and other warping points into your slate to be able to do the same. It's very convenient when you need to get somewhere quickly.'

Sidon looked beside himself with anticipation.

"So we're going out of the Domain to register the points? Father agreed? Are we… Are we leaving right away?"

The Zora was practically vibrating on the spot, waiting for Link's confirmation.

Link nodded, which was the only thing he had the time to do before Sidon became a red blur of activity, frantically searching for things he wanted to take with him and asking Link for suggestions.

The Hylian could only laugh. This adventure was bound to be interesting and fun.


	2. Are the woods ahead the Minish Woods?

Link was really pleased with their progress so far: they had left the Domain after registering Ne'ez Yohma shrine, dropped by the Veiled Falls for Dagah Keek shrine, gotten to Soh Kofi very fast thanks to Sidon's swimming speed, and made it to the Lanaryu Tower just before nightfall. It was much quicker than Link had actually anticipated; had they walked they would have had to call it a night somewhere past the natural tunnel after the Bank of Wishes, but apparently the Zora route, aka the river, sped the way considerably.

"I've been outside of the Domain before, but only in places easily accessible via the water routes", Sidon said conversationally as they climbed up the tower. "And not very far ever since the octorok incident, which was decades ago. My father didn't want to risk me getting into more trouble in places too far away to send help to quickly. I'm the crown prince, after all, and it's my duty to not die young, or at least that's how he puts it."

Link just nodded, unable to sign while climbing. He could understand where King Dorephan was coming from, even if he felt a faint pang of regret thinking that it was because of Mipha's death that Sidon was restricted so. If Mipha was still alive she would be the crown princess and future queen, leaving Sidon with a lot less responsibilities on his shoulders. But at least Sidon could explore the world now, with Ganon gone and Link by his side to protect him. He could almost feel Mipha smiling down at them at the thought, and that made his heart considerably lighter.

They made it to the top, and Sidon promptly placed his slate on the pedestal, having already learned the drill from the three shrines they had registered on the way. He watched in fascination as the drop of condensed information splashed on the device, then looked at Link with a delighted smile.

"Did you see that? The shrines didn't do that!"

Link nodded with an indulgent smile, like he hadn't seen this a dozen times before during his grand adventure; it was brand new to Sidon, so he wasn't about to rain on his parade.

After a moment of humouring his friend, Link walked over to the edge of the tower, humming in contemplation while surveying the area, despite the darkness of the falling night. They could go either north or south if they wanted to be logical about this and do a full circle. But which to pick? It wasn't like Sidon could go to Death Mountain, but Akkala would be an excellent place to begin. Then again, Hateno Village was south of here and Link was dying to show Sidon his home…

"Scouting our route?" Sidon asked as he walked up to his friend, and grinned wide at the view. "Oh, how marvelous! I think I can see Shatterback Point from here! Too bad the Upland Zorana mountains block the view to the Domain. Oh, Hyrule Castle is right over there!"

Link chuckled, and let Sidon ooh and ahh his fill before patting his arm to get his attention.

'Any preferences for our route?'

Sidon nodded, and turned to look at the Castle again.

"I think we should follow the river north and visit the Castle", he said, and pointed at the river in question. "While Akkala would probably be nice to visit, I think getting a warp point to the Castle is a higher priority, even if we don't have an explicit deadline for our travels. Akkala is near enough to the Domain that I can go visit it later on my own if I have to, and Death Mountain lives up to its name for us Zora. I can't go anywhere near it. So it'd be much more efficient to skip them for now."

Link nodded, accepting this as their plan. Sidon had clearly been thinking about it on their way here, which Link appreciated.

'Now that that's decided, it's time to test the warping', Link signed, causing Sidon's eyes to widen. 'Climbing down from here is a hassle and we don't want to spend the night up here, so we may as well warp back to Soh Kofi shrine, which also gets us back to the road.'

Sidon looked very impressed and excited. To be fair, that was his usual look around Link, but it was still fun to see.

"Smart thinking! I wouldn't have thought of that. It goes to show that you're more used to this than I am!"

Link wasn't going to ruin Sidon's awe by mentioning that normally he just paraglided down from the towers. He preferred looking like an expert, so instead, he took out his slate and showed Sidon which shrine he meant, even if it was a little obvious.

Sidon took out his slate too and crouched next to Link to compare them. He then blinked and looked delighted again.

"I have a map now! Oh, of course I do, that was the point of getting up here, but it's still amazing to actually see the results."

Sidon's constant enthusiasm about everything was downright adorable, like always. Link gave him a furtive glance, a fond smile playing on his lips. Then he shook the wistful thoughts out of his head, and started signing instructions.

ooooo

They traveled leisurely by Sheh Rata shrine and through the Trilby Plain with very little issues. The roads were much safer nowadays with newly trained Hyrulian guards patrolling them and taking care of any monsters that got too close, not to mention the lack of blood moon meaning any slain monsters stayed dead. Link almost missed the excitement of never knowing when a bokoblin or a moblin showed up, but a much bigger part of him was glad that he could concentrate on having fun with Sidon instead of constantly worrying about the Zora Prince's safety.

'Mirro Shaz shrine is across the Pico Pond', Link signed, even though his eyes were trained on the stable at the fork of the road ahead. He liked camping just fine, but he always looked forward to sleeping in an actual bed when given the chance. Not that it would feel that luxurious just yet, considering that they had only spent one night outdoors so far. He idly wondered if Sidon would book a room as well or if he'd rather sleep submerged in the pond…

"So this is the Pico Pond?" Sidon asked with a contemplative look, "Does that make the woods ahead the Minish Woods?"

'Minshi Woods', Link corrected.

"Hmm? Ah, our maps call it the Minish Woods. I suppose Hylians use a different name, or have changed it over time. Your kind makes changes so often it's hard for us Zora to keep track of all of it, being long-lived and thus slow adapting as we are, much to my regret…"

'Swim or go around?' Link asked, stopping at the edge of the pond. The weather was nice and calm today, so the pond reflected his visage back to him perfectly. He took note of the lack of octroroks in the water, which was a very pleasant thing; he hated being suddenly hit by flying rocks.

"Let's go around so you can sign", Sidon said, piquing Link's interest. It wasn't often that Sidon opted to not get in the water when given the chance.

They continued walking along the edge of the lake, Link looking at Sidon questioningly.

Sidon smiled. "I see you're expecting a story? How observant of you."

Sidon looked at the lake again, eyes idly tracking the delicious looking fish in it; it had been a while since they ate, as they planned to do so at the stable.

"When I was young, the elders told me stories of little people called the Minish or the Picori", he said, and chuckled, "They were said to be the size of insects, but as intelligent as the Zora. They lived absolutely everywhere in Hyrule, hidden by their small size, but if you wanted a chance to actually see them, you'd have to come here, where their largest settlement was somewhere in the woods. However, they would only show themselves to children, who were small enough to pay attention to such tiny creatures."

Link smiled, charmed by the story. He wondered if Hylians had such tales passed down, or if the story was of purely Zora origin. He wouldn't know as he hadn't recalled most of his life, much less the little things. He doubted he ever would recover everything, and wasn't too sorry about it most of the time; his life had seemed stressful, and almost everyone from his past was dead and thus not around to be frustrated by his lack of memories of them. Besides, he liked who he was now, and too much knowledge of who he was before might change him. But he digressed.

'Did you ever see any?' he asked, since Sidon seemed to be waiting for prompting. He was proven right straight away.

"Unfortunately I was never taken here as a child, so no", Sidon said wistfully, "I planned to visit once I was big enough to be allowed to travel, but then never got around to it, and eventually forgot about it. Perhaps we can look around tomorrow, once we reach the woods? We may not be children, and perhaps the Picori aren't real, but at least I'll get to keep a promise to my younger self."

Link nodded, not minding the idea at all. If nothing else, they would probably find some mushrooms and nuts while they were at it, so it'd be useful regardless.

Sidon smiled softly. "Thank you."

They walked in comfortable silence, minds preoccupied, until they reached the shrine. Link stayed back to toss a glance towards the stable they'd be heading to as soon as this was over with, while Sidon took out his slate and touched it to the pedestal, as per usual. Then he made a surprised noise, which caused Link to look at him questioningly. Sidon was staring at his slate.

Link frowned, and took a step closer at the same moment Sidon turned towards him, the slate held up and a clawed finger pointing at something on the screen.

"Say, what is-"

Sidon's claw touched the screen, and he disappeared in an instant.

Link blinked stupidly, unable to process what had happened. His brain helpfully supplied him with "the blue light signifying warping wasn't there, so that's out" after a moment, which kick-started him again.

"Sidon!" Link yelled, looking around frantically, as if Sidon had just somehow moved to another nearby spot too quickly for him to have registered. However, the Zora was nowhere to be seen. Sidon was large and red and usually also very vocal, so the lack of his presence nearby was instantly obvious, despite the momentary denial on Link's part.

Link found himself panicking before he could help it.

He had managed to lose his best friend two days into their adventure. Sidon had disappeared. He was traveling with Link but now he was gone. Link hadn't been able to keep him safe.

His heartbeat picked up in a way that no enemy had caused in a long time. His breathing grew ragged, and it became hard to think.

No. Don't do that. Concentrate. Calm.

Link closed his eyes and took a big, shaky breath.

Think. Zelda liked to say that there was always a cause to things – nothing happened without a cause. If there was a ripple in the water, it was because something dropped into it or something breached the surface. If the grass moved, it was the wind or there was something hidden in it. So if Sidon disappeared, something caused it.

What had happened before it?

Link opened his eyes and looked at the pedestal of the shrine. He had already activated it ages ago, but he still walked up to it and touched his slate on it. Then he looked at the slate.

And blinked.

There was a new icon flashing in the rune screen, between Cryonis and the camera. It was some kind of floppy, green triangle. The explanation text underneath only said "Error, corrupted data. Contact Slateri", which wasn't very informative.

However, this had to have been what made Sidon vanish, so there was nothing to it: Link tapped the icon.

And the world promptly shot upwards.


	3. Was this supposed to happen?

Link looked around him with wide eyes. Where was he? It looked like some kind of temple ruins or something as there was stone floor and rocks everywhere, and no plant life in sight. Though if that was what it was, the ruins were absolutely huge; the view looked the same as far as his eyes could see, with the exception of a ridiculously tall wall a little bit ahead of him. The wall was so tall that Link couldn't see where it ended and the sky began. It was a little unnerving if he thought about it for too long, so he didn't.

He turned around to see if the desolation continued behind him as well, and his eyes caught a flash of red. Red, like Sidon. It was moving too. His heartbeat picked up, and he broke into a run towards it, not even letting himself consider the possibility of it being a plain red moblin instead of his friend.

To his huge relief he could soon see that it was, indeed, Sidon.

Sidon seemed to hear the approaching footsteps, too, as he instantly turned around, taking a fighting stance. Said stance dropped the moment he saw who was running towards him, and a smile and open arms replaced it.

"Link! I'm so glad you're here!" he said, and scooped the tiny Hylian up the moment he was close enough. Link hugged him back, beyond relieved to have found him this easily, and presumably unharmed too. At least one thing was going right about their current predicament.

Sidon pulled back to look at Link after a moment, most likely verifying that he was alright, then carefully set him down. Link let him, despite the urge to keep on clinging for the foreseeable future, just to make sure he didn't disappear on him again.

"Was… this supposed to happen?" Sidon asked, moving his arm in an arch to include all of their surroundings into 'this'. From the look on his face, he seemed to already know the answer; regardless, Link shook his head.

'No, this hasn't happened to me before, and I've been to that shrine a few times', he signed, and took out his slate to take another look at the new addition that got them into this mess.

The green triangle-ish icon had gone gray and lifeless, which wasn't a very good sign. It still prompted him to "contact Slateri" underneath, but that wasn't very helpful either, as he didn't have a single clue who, or even what, this Slateri was.

Link looked up at Sidon to see that he, too, was looking at his own slate.

"Is your triangle icon gray too?" Sidon asked as soon as he noticed Link staring. At Link's nod, he continued, "I rather think it's a bad sign. Should we try tapping them anyway? See what happens?"

Link wasn't feeling too optimistic about it, but gave another nod. It was worth a shot, and hopefully wouldn't make things worse, at least.

Sidon counted to three out loud, and they tapped their icons simultaneously. Nothing happened, as expected. Wherever they were, they weren't getting back the same way. It would have been too easy, wouldn't it?

Thankfully that wasn't the only way. They could just warp back to the shrine, or if Sidon's slate somehow failed to register it thanks to whatever happened, they could just go back to Sheh Rata instead. They would only lose about four or five hours but still make it to the stable before nightfall. Sheh Rata was right next to the river, so Sidon could fish himself a meal there, too.

Link got the map screen open… and stared. According to the map they were still at Mirro Shaz shrine. He moved the map around a bit in disbelief, hoping against hope to fix the error by making a show of using the map, but nothing changed about their displayed location. The map insisted that they were at Mirro Shaz, by the Pico Pond.

Wordlessly he showed the map to Sidon, who checked his own, only to find it black. Of course, they hadn't visited the local tower yet. However, the map did label the shrine as Mirro Shaz, and the Lanayru region was where it was supposed to be in comparison.

"Well then", Sidon said after a moment of worried silence, "I suppose we'll just pick a direction and start walking? With any luck we might find someone who could tell us what is going on. Or we could warp elsewhere to see if it works?"

Link shrugged and then nodded towards a random direction. He was starting to feel adventurous now that they were somewhere he hadn't seen before, so he didn't want to lose the opportunity to explore by warping to safety just yet. After all, since the new icon wasn't working there was a good chance they wouldn't be able to return here if they left, wherever "here" was. They could have warping to another shrine as a back-up plan if they got more lost or tired. Who knew, maybe they'd find a new shrine or treasure here?

Sidon stared at the chosen direction, then looked at his slate again in contemplation. Finally he put it away and gave Link a smile.

"Fine with me. I do, for once, have unlimited time for exploring so I might as well capitalize on that. Lead on, my adventurous friend."

ooooo

Link estimated that it had taken them a little less than an hour to leave the stone floored area and climb down a wall to arrive to an extremely rocky terrain. Or pebble-y was more like it; all of the ground consisted of endless amount of pebbles that were strangely even in size. Link had never seen anything like it.

"Link?" Sidon asked, making Link stop examining the ground and look at his companion instead. "I didn't want to waste breath talking while we were climbing, but now is a good opportunity to speak up. I smell a large body water in the direction we're going to. I think that's a good sign, if for no other reason than the opportunity to fish. I must admit I'm starved."

Link smiled and nodded. Water was always a good find, both as a source of hydration and food, and as a potential place for meeting other people after the same things. Of course, it also often meant enemies, but they could handle that.

Link let Sidon lead the way from there, and very soon they could actually see vast amounts of blue ahead. They eagerly picked up the pace and soon enough reached the shore.

Sidon's phrase "a large body of water" didn't do this place justice; Link had been to the sea a few times, and this place rivaled it in sheer size. He couldn't see the opposite shore, or anything else beyond endless amounts of blue. Maybe this was the sea? In that case their maps were definitely lying. It didn't smell salty, though, and there were no seagulls...

"Aah, finally water!" Sidon said with a huge smile, then turned to Link. "Do you mind if I take a dip? I could catch us dinner."

Link gave a vague "go ahead" kind of gesture and watched Sidon dive with his usual theatrics, then took out his slate to check the map. Definitely still broken: according to the map they had only taken a short walk away from the shrine and reached the Pico Pond. That couldn't be right by any means, as it took a few minutes at most to walk from the shrine to the Pond, and the two of them had just wasted nearly an hour. Link shook his head and instead walked over to the nearby rock face and got the campfire started by its base. They might not be staying here for the night, but that was no reason to camp out in the open when there were other options.

ooooo

Eventually Link had a merry fire going and had dug out a few food items from his backpack to go with the fish, but there was no sign of Sidon. It was a little strange as usually Sidon caught fish right quick unless he specifically mentioned that he'd take a good soak too, which was necessary if they had been traveling on land under the glaring sun for a few hours. He hadn't said he would do that, though; Link distinctly remembered Sidon's words being "take a dip" and "catch dinner", which would imply a short trip, which this was not. It was starting to make Link anxious, but there was little he'd be able to do unless Sidon was above water, which he wasn't as far as Link could see. He squinted towards the water, eyes tracking the waves for any sign of a big red shark, but to no avail.

Then there was a sound on his right, somewhat behind him.

"Oh, I thought the smoke would be from a campfire! Hi there!"

Link shot up and turned around, just barely refraining from unsheathing his sword too out of habit; the words and tone were friendly, so the only hostile option was a Yiga, which he could sort out after greeting the stranger, if necessary. The Yiga always liked to try and make small talk or possibly sell him something before they attacked, and they even went as far as to tip him off to their hostility, too, by saying silly phrases like "After I have your head!" or something. They were very bad at assassination attempts, honestly.

However, it only took one glance to know that the person was definitely not a Yiga.

Link stared.

Before him was a person who looked unlike anyone Link had seen before. He… or she? …They had a pointy face, ears longer than even Link's own, large and dark eyes, and they were wearing strange clothes that looked like they were made out of enormous leaves. Well, the tunic or dress at least; the pointy red hat looked like cloth… And was that a huge feather decoration or a tail that was poking out behind them? They weren't wearing any shoes either.

The creature stared back at him with equal awe.

"Are you… a Hylian?" they asked.


	4. Forgive my rudeness, but what are you?

Link stared at the creature, person, standing before him, trying to process everything. He was getting a distinct sense of déjà vu from the start of the conversation he was about to engage in. Hadn't someone else asked him about his Hylian-ness too, a long time ago? Regardless, he nodded.

'Forgive my rudeness, but what are you?' he signed in return, trying very hard to quit his staring.

The person tilted their head in confusion, their large eyes looking from his hands to his face.

"Umm, what was that gesturing just now? Are you alright?" they asked, frowning in concern.

No. Not this again. Granted, it had been a long while since the last time he had to deal with someone not understanding him, but damn it, he had been so ready to never go through it again!

Just in case, he tried signing again, this time slower and very exaggeratedly.

'Do you understand me?'

The person looked just as baffled as before as they looked at his hands, then comprehension dawned on their face and they slowly shook their head, looking apologetic.

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand your hand-speak", they said. Not the response Link had been hoping for, but at least better than 'why do you keep waving your hands like an idiot?' he sometimes got. Or the good old 'did you hit you head or something?'

Link sighed in frustration and chewed on his bottom lip. Alright. He really needed some answers, so it was time for desperate measures. Maybe… maybe his voice wouldn't fail him this time? Since there was only one person here? He did sometimes manage to speak with complete strangers. Not that he could really remember many times, but he was decidedly not thinking about that. He just had to concentrate and believe that this would work. It had to.

He took a deep breath and determinedly opened his mouth to speak, but felt his throat close up the moment he tried to get any words out. He swallowed and tried again, but, predictably, the results were the same. No words, only a feeling of pressure around his throat and chest, and his heart beating way too quickly.

Just like always.

He could scream. Except he literally couldn't, at the moment, even if he wanted to. It was very frustrating and made him want to hit something or possibly cry.

The strange person waved their hands frantically, looking more worried than before.

"It's alright! No need to try to force yourself. If you can't speak, then you can't, and that's fine. I'll just… ask you yes or no questions?"

Except it wasn't fine because technically Link could speak. Under certain circumstances. Sometimes. Damn it.

Where the hell was Sidon when he was needed?

"Umm", the person said, and Link forcefully brought himself out of his funk to pay attention. He may be unable to speak, but he could and should listen and save his problems for later. "Are you traveling alone?"

Speaking of Sidon. Link shook his head and gestured towards the water.

The person looked relieved for all of one second, then glanced towards the water and back at Link with horror written all over their face.

"They're in the pond?" they asked, voice tinged with distress. Link nodded warily. "Why are- no, you can't answer that one. Are you aware there's a lot of fish right by the shore?"

That sounded like the opposite of a problem to Link, who shrugged, confused. This seemed to make the person even more distressed.

"You don't- waitwaitwait", they said, shaking their head and looking at Link with a new understanding. "Are you… Are you aware that you've shrunk?"

…Shrunk? What did they mean with that? Sure, Link was short and that wasn't fun, but…

"You're currently the size of a Minish. That is, roughly as big as… an acorn", the person explained, looking at him imploringly, willing him to understand the problem.

The size of an acorn? Wait, Minish? Sidon mentioned-

Wait. Size of an acorn. Acorns are considerably smaller than fish. Hylian Basses, among most others, ate smaller fish.

Sidon was currently a smaller fish.

Link broke into a full run towards the water, trying to catch a glimpse of red anywhere and ignoring the shouts from the Minish behind him.

He took out his bow, the only thing that could even potentially be of any use in this situation, and scanned the water desperately. No Sidon in sight. Should he dive in? No, the fish would be faster than him. Damn, he left his Zora armor in the campsite with most of his things, although chances were it wouldn't have made a difference.

Okay, if he was Sidon, what would he do? Fight the fish? Sidon wasn't stupid; that would be the last resort. Also, if he had won he would be back by now, and if he had lost... Link wasn't going to consider that one. Try to out-swim it? Possibly, but if that had worked he would already be back. Hide? Hide where? The bottom was probably too far, and even so getting back up from there would be risky with fish all around him. What else was in the water to hide in? Rocks. He could hide between rocks big enough to reach the surface, or almost do so. Were there any rocks in sight?

Link scanned the surface of the water with keen eyes.

There.

Link ran, again ignoring the shouts behind him.

It took way too long to reach the spot on the shore that was closest to the rocks, but Link could immediately see he was in the right place: he could see the water rippling unnaturally, meaning that something was trashing just below the surface. Hopefully a fish trying to squeeze itself somewhere, and not Sidon wrestling with one.

Now the only question was, how was he supposed to help? He couldn't swim there to act as bait, he would just get in trouble himself. Cryonis wouldn't be of any use when the fish was likely bigger than the ice cube would be. He couldn't throw his bombs that far, and he might hurt Sidon even if he could do that. He couldn't aim his puny little arrows to something he couldn't see, especially with Sidon there. He needed a bait…

He gasped out loud, and patted his pockets. Yes, he had a staminella mushroom there, like he always did in case he needed a boost in a pinch. But only one…

He turned to look at the babbling Minish he had ignored until now, and held a finger to his lips in a universal sign for "shut up". Thankfully, it worked. Link turned towards the water again, nocked an arrow, and shot. It landed way short of his target, as he had rather expected, thanks to details like the smallest gust of wind suddenly making a huge difference to his tiny arrow's course. He shot another one, now much closer. He kept shooting until he had his desired spot down so that he wouldn't miss it when it counted, even with the added weight of the mushroom. With any luck, Sidon had also noticed the arrows by now and would know to act when the opening was given.

It was very stressful to know that much of his plan relied on luck, but he had had worse. At least this time he didn't need to set himself on fire or anything.

He took a deep, calming breath, mustering up all the zen he could manage. Then he pierced the mushroom with an arrow, nocked said arrow, and let it fly without giving himself any time to lose his cool or second-guess his plan.

The arrow flew straight where he wanted it to, plunking into the water and under the surface, if only briefly. Link watched with bated breath as the arrow and the bait resurfaced, and were soon followed by an absolutely huge fish that chomped them right up. Behind it, the water rippled promisingly, but Link couldn't see beneath the surface from all the way up the shore, so he could only wait.

Anxiously.

Especially so when the fish disappeared beneath the surface again after maybe a second. Did fish need to chew their food? Hopefully yes.

Just in case, Link fired another couple of arrows with the hope that they would keep the fish distracted now that it was close enough to the surface to maybe notice them. He wasn't sure if it was working or not, but at least it was something to do besides waiting uselessly. If only he could shoot a lighting arrow there without the very real possibility of accidentally killing Sidon along with the fish.

As a side note, he couldn't believe that he was actually in a position where he'd need a lightning arrow to kill a damned fish.

He was finally brought out of his mechanical repetitive shooting and incredulous thoughts by the Minish, who he had honestly forgotten about, shouting and pointing into the water. Link looked into the pointed direction, and to his utmost relief saw a red blur swim towards the shore with impressive speed. He put away his bow and ran to the spot Sidon was heading to, just in time to see the Zora breach the water with a little less flips and overall flashiness than usual; just simple utilitarian jump out of the dangerous waters.

As soon as Sidon was standing steadily, Link jumped into his arms, or at least against his chest, and wrapped both his arms and feet firmly around his friend in a full on octopus hug. Sidon "oofed" and took a staggering step back, but then caught on to the situation and chuckled breathlessly, nudged Link's legs lower so they weren't squishing his gills, and returned the hug with equal enthusiasm.

"Oh Link, I'm so happy to see you!" he said, and nuzzled the top of Link's head with his dripping crest. Link was going to be soaked from the hug, but didn't exactly care. "I wondered if I would be stuck there all night with how persistent the giant fish was being. Of course it was partly my own fault, I had to provoke it a few times to keep the smaller fish from being able to squeeze themselves into my hideout in its stead. In any case, your intervention was very timely and appreciated. I hope I didn't cause too much worry?"

Link just nodded against Sidon's chest, not even sure what kind of answer it was supposed to be, exactly. It didn't matter; all that mattered was that Sidon was safe and with him.

Suddenly, Sidon stiffened.

"Oh! I didn't realize we had company", he said, sounding a little awkward. His hold on Link loosened, which was probably his cue to let go, but Link didn't plan to do that anytime soon. It's not like he could talk to the Minish anyway.

After a beat, Sidon seemed to realize his predicament and apparently just accepted it for now, judging from the small sigh.

"Pardon the… awkward position I currently find myself in. I'm Prince Sidon of the Zora. Pleasure to meet you", Sidon said, nodding to the Minish.

"You're a Zora? Wow, I didn't think I'd ever meet one, I was only ever told to expect Hylians or the Sheikah", the Minish said, causing Link to turn his head to look at them curiously. The Minish then bowed. "I'm Slateri the Second of the Minish. Nice to meet you, Your Highness."

...

Slateri, huh?


	5. Are you able to translate,Your Highness?

Link reluctantly let his octopus hug hold of Sidon go and slid to the ground, then turned to look at the Minish who had just introduced themselves as Slateri. Slateri, as in the person their Sheikah Slates told them to contact about the error that made them unable to… un-shrink.

Link's hands were signing away before he even remembered that it wasn't going to be understood.

'Are you the Slateri we're supposed to contact about our slates?'

Slateri looked sheepish.

"I, uh, still don't understand that, sorry", they said, then turned to look at Sidon. "Are you able to translate, Your Highness? Oh, and could you tell me your guard's name?"

Sidon looked bewildered, and glanced from Slateri to Link and back.

"You don't understand sign language?" he asked, then shook his head. "Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, I do recall Link telling me that the Zora are the only race where everybody knows sign. Ah, his name is Link, and he's not my guard, he's my friend."

Link was pretty sure he also counted as Sidon's guard as far as King Dorephan was concerned, but that was unimportant. Sidon was probably happier not thinking of it like that anyway.

It was true, though, that Zora's Domain was the only place in Hyrule where Link was guaranteed to be understood, no matter who he talked to. The Zora had sign as their second language, the one used underwater where sound didn't carry the same way it did on land. Everywhere else people knowing sign was hit or miss, although there was always someone around in every settlement that knew at least the basics, such as the alphabet. Usually the inn keeper and often the owner of the general goods shop. He could only hope that the Minish had knowledgeable people in their midst as well, even if Slateri wasn't one.

"I'm happy to act as a translator", Sidon continued, making Link quit his musings. At Sidon's glance at him, he repeated his question, and Sidon vocalized it.

Slateri's expression brightened, and they clapped their hands together in glee.

"Oh, that I am! Or at least... kind of", they said, becoming sheepish once more. "I'm not all that experienced yet, to be honest. My father, Slateri the First, is more knowledgeable. My grandma, Slateri the Late, taught him everything before she passed, but my father hasn't yet taught me everything. Is... Is there a problem with your slate? I can still try to help, since my father isn't here."

For a moment there Link had been ready to label Slateri as a male, for clarity's sake, since they shared their name with their father. But apparently they also shared their name with their grandmother, so the name seemed to be unisex. Was there even a polite way to ask someone what their gender was? ...He supposed it didn't matter; he was merely curious but not really inconvenienced by his lack of knowledge. Besides, there were more important things to consider.

Sidon beat him to it.

"Yes, there is a problem", he said, and took his slate out. "We were at Mirro Shaz shrine when this icon here", he showed Slateri the slate, "appeared, and apparently shrunk us down, if I'm interpreting the situation correctly. The icon is now gray, which hasn't happened with the other icons before, and won't turn us back to normal. You can see the text below. Can you fix it?"

Link nodded along, looking at Slateri hopefully. Although, to be honest, he had the feeling that this wasn't going to work. Maybe it was the whole "not experienced" bit, or just the fact that nothing in his life was ever this easy. It didn't hurt to try, though.

Slateri took Sidon's slate and fiddled with it for a moment, then frowned and looked at them again.

"I'm going to need my equipment to have any chance of fixing this", they said, and handed the slate back to Sidon. Then they gestured towards the rocks Link had built their camp by; Link idly noted that he couldn't see smoke any longer, so their fire had gone out. "My cabin isn't far, so you should grab your belongings and come with me. If that's okay?"

Link looked at Sidon, who simultaneously looked at him. Sidon gave him a questioning look, to which Link just shrugged and nodded. Sidon smiled at him, then turned back to Slateri.

"We shall do as you suggest."

ooooo

Their trip back to their camp was filled with Sidon enthusiastically asking Slateri about the Minish and Slateri answering to the best of their abilities. Apparently the Minish were, indeed, usually only seen by children because of their inherent magic turning the adult minds away. However, children were rarely seen around here, as traveling Hylians usually stopped traveling and settled down elsewhere once they had children.

Slateri knew that there were supposedly other Minish settlements all over Hyrule, but they didn't know how the Minish there were faring nowadays. A long time ago some of the Minish had been able to travel via shrine warping just like Link did, but when the network was abruptly shut down, presumably by the Sheikah, so was long distance travel, leaving them in the dark. Now that the network had been re-activated by the hero who defeated Calamity Ganon, Slateri's father had started fixing the Minish half of it, starting with Mirro Shaz shrine. He was currently headed towards the Lost Woods to work on the other nearby shrines. Slateri was staying in the cabin just in case some of the big folk dropped by now that the shrine was distributing the Vertical Shift rune again, which was exactly what had happened with Link and Sidon. Them being unable to shift back wasn't supposed to happen.

Link gathered his backpack and the items he had pulled out earlier, and signaled that he was ready to move on. Sidon grabbed his satchel, and off they went.

"I was wondering about your name", Sidon said, picking the conversation back up while they followed Slateri. "Is it common for Minish families to all share the same name? Have there only been three Slateris so far? I would have thought the slates and shrines were older than just three generations. Or are you so long-lived?"

Slateri chuckled and shot Sidon a fond look, seeming to have taken quite the liking to him already. Link could hardly blame them; Sidon was the best. If his eyes lingered on Sidon a little too long at the thought, well, it was nobody's business.

"We're not particularly long-lived – my grandma was a little girl when the Calamity struck. My father and I have never known life without the Calamity until now", Slateri said. "Usually Minish families have similar names, at least to start with, but our family is special and uses the same name for all the successors for this job. And there have been many, many Slateri before me. The big numbers are depressing, though, so we just recycle a few and use them as status symbols. My grandma was Slateri the First while she still lived, and I was the third. But when she passed, my father became the first. My first born will be the new Slateri the Third."

Sidon looked impressed, but Link was mostly amused, and had a couple of questions. He poked at Sidon's arm to get his attention.

'To start with? And what if Slateri doesn't have children?' he signed.

Sidon forwarded the questions to their Minish companion.

"I have two sisters, one of whose children would take the mantle if I had none", Slateri replied, then took a moment to think through his answer to the other question. "We Minish aren't stuck with our birth names for our whole lives. Usually we're named after our parents' professions in preparation of us continuing in their footsteps when we're old enough, but we're not forced to do that. And if it just so happens that the son of a tailor ends up being a gardener instead, it would be unfitting for him to be named Stitcheri, so he'd change his name to something like Floweri at that point. If he changed his profession again, or got old and quit working altogether, he might change his name again to suit his new way of life. ...We Slateri don't ever change our names after we've learned the trade. As far as I know there have only ever been cases of children initially being named Slateri but then not wanting to become slate technicians when they grew up. They give up on the name right away so that one of their siblings or cousins can take it instead. It's an important job that you have to dedicate your life to, even if there hadn't been much to do besides forwarding the knowledge until now."

Slateri gave them a huge smile.

"I'm so glad I chose to stay Slateri!" they said enthusiastically. "With the shrines activating and you two showing up, the generations of passing forward the knowledge without much else to do is finally coming to an end! I'm sure things will get interesting and busy now. I only wish my grandma was here to see it; she always said that the Calamity was a sign that the shrines would activate again soon."

Slateri hummed happily, a new skip to their step. Link shared a grin with Sidon; even if their situation wasn't ideal, at least they had brought immense joy to this Minish, and it might yet spread to others. Worth it, being shrunk down.

It was shortly after this that they could see a house between huge rocks ahead of them. The house itself was also made of rocks of different sizes – probably for camouflage – that had been patched together with mud or some other similar substance. The door was a piece of bark that had been perfectly fitted into the doorway.

Slateri beckoned them forward and let them in. Sidon had to bow his head to fit through the doorway, but at least the ceiling was high enough that he didn't have to stay hunched.

The house was cozy enough. It didn't look like it had been lived in for long, even if the house itself was obviously old. There were a couple of beds, a big table with chairs, a kitchenette, a couple of cabinets, and a bookshelf with a few ancient looking tomes and a couple of newer booklets. That was about it.

Slateri walked over to one of the cabinets.

"I'm going to need your slates, so please put them on the table", they said as they rummaged. "In the meantime, help yourself to anything in the kitchen. If you need to heat something, I think there should be some Fire Chuchu jelly in there somewhere."

Both Link and Sidon's stomachs grumbled in response. Right, they had meant to eat, not get stuck between rocks hiding from a giant fish, doing a rescue operation, or follow a stranger into their house to have their slates poked at.

"Thank you for your hospitality", Sidon said, while Link was already making a beeline to the kitchen cabinets to see what they had to offer.

There were mostly berries and mushrooms in different states: dried, pickled, jam, juice, powder. One jar said acorn flour. One bag had dried flowers and herbs, presumably tea. There was a big bag of seeds, a barrel of water, and a jar with some kind of nuts that seemed to move on their own. But that was it. No meat, and no fish. Sidon seemed to be trying very hard to not look completely crestfallen.

They would just… get him some fish later, somehow. He could make-do with other stuff for now. It would still fill his stomach.

Link fixed the three of them hot seed porridge with the acorn flour (using Chuchu jelly as a substitute for fire was interesting, and Link was glad to have learned that), served with jam, and mugs of herbal tea. Slateri worked on Sidon's slate while Link cooked, then on Link's the whole time they ate. Once they finished, Slateri finally gave a defeated sigh, and handed the slates back.

"I'm sorry. I've tried everything I know of, and I can't fix the problem."


	6. You didn't listen to Slateri, did you?

Link stared at Slateri, hoping that he'd heard wrong. Can't fix the problem? They were stuck?

Slateri waved their hands.

"Oh, don't look so glum!" they said frantically. "Just because I can't fix it doesn't mean that my father can't."

Oh, right. Slateri had mentioned that their skills were inferior to their father's. There was still hope after all. Not that Link's world would necessarily crumble if he was to spend the rest of his life as a Minish, even if he would miss Zelda and a select group of other people terribly, but so far it seemed that Sidon's might. Not to mention that King Dorephan would be heartbroken, thinking his only remaining child was as dead as his late elder sister.

No, staying mini wasn't an option.

Link poked Sidon's arm to get his attention.

'How long will father Slateri be gone? Should we wait or go after him?' he signed, then pointed at Slateri.

Sidon nodded, then repeated the questions out loud.

Slateri looked thoughtful.

"I suppose that depends on how long you're willing to stay small", they said slowly. "My father left three days ago. It takes roughly two weeks to get to the Lost Woods capital city, then he will visit the shrines, there's four of them, that'll take him at least another two weeks. Then, if the warping doesn't happen to work because of the error you have, he might take another two weeks to return. So, six weeks?"

Sidon looked like he just died inside. Link couldn't blame him. Spending over a month on this one thing alone was excessive, and would probably raise alarms; they hadn't promised frequent letters to King Dorephan, but it was implied that they would send news of their progress whenever it was convenient, such as when they reached the Castle. If they vanished for a month before even reaching the Castle, the Zora as a whole would go ballistic. No, it wasn't an option. That meant…

Link tapped Sidon's arm again.

'We'll go after him. Ask Slateri for directions.'

ooooo

It turned out it would take roughly six hours just to reach the stable, where the closest Minish town was. Since it was already almost night, Slateri insisted that they spend the night at his place for safety; apparently Keese preyed on the Minish if they went out during nights, and there were other hazards too, although they were more common to areas outside of the beach. In Link's opinion that meant that they could have gone ahead since they're still at the beach and thus only had one enemy, but Sidon wisely pointed out that there was nowhere to hide in the sandy, or pebble-y in their mini-state, terrain. Link could have argued that he was perfectly able to hide in plain sight if necessary, but then he looked at the violently red scales of his friend and had to agree that Sidon's hiding capabilities were abysmal. So, reluctantly, they stayed.

But first thing in the morning they left.

"Watch out for frogs and darners! Stay by the mountain!" Slateri reminded them as they left.

Link couldn't believe that frogs and darners were something to consider dangerous now. His life just couldn't stay normal for long, could it?

"I truly hope that we can somehow acquire fish at the stable inn", Sidon said, once he was certain Slateri could no longer hear them. "No offense to Minish food, but it truly doesn't keep hunger away at all."

Link frowned at the pebbles they were walking on. He hadn't had any issues with the food; it was largely the same as Hylian food, even if fruit was switched to berries. True, there was no meat, at least in Slateri's pantry, but it wasn't like Link hadn't survived on a diet based on just mushrooms and apples for days on end before. He could definitely make do with what the forest ahead had to offer. However, it seemed that Sidon would have a problem. Now that Link thought about it, Zora always ate fish, even if they might serve other dishes on the side. So far, until they shrunk down, Sidon had always caught fresh fish for the two of them from the river they had been following. Link had assumed it was because he preferred fish over other foods and it was readily available, not because he was required to eat it.

Link glanced at Sidon, who was looking in the general direction of the Pico Pond, wistful.

How the hell was he supposed to keep someone Sidon's size fed during the trip if he required a specific diet? Sidon ate roughly two average sized fish a meal. They could buy all the fish the Minish side of the stable inn had to offer, assuming there was one and they offered fish, but they could only carry so much. Fish also went bad pretty quickly unless it was salted stiff, which wasn't going to be pleasant for someone who usually ate his fish raw. It was an impossible equation.

Maybe he should leave Sidon behind at the inn? He could just take Sidon's slate with him, find Slateri the First, have the rune fixed, warp back to Mirro Shaz, go meet Sidon at the inn, and all would be well.

Hell, he could even warp right to one of the shrines in the Lost Woods and save himself the walk if he didn't have to take Sidon with him. He could just wait for Slateri on the other end.

Link grinned, then reached up to tap at Sidon's arm.

"Yes?" Sidon asked, looking at him.

'I have an idea that saves us time and trouble', he signed, pretty proud of himself for thinking it. 'I could take your slate with me and warp into the Lost Woods to wait for Slateri the First to arrive. Then he could-'

Sidon shook his head, frowning. Link halted his signing and frowned right back at the interruption.

"Hold on. Warp there?" Sidon asked dubiously. "Pardon the assumption, but you didn't listen to Slateri yesterday, did you?"

Link gave him a blank look, puzzled. He had listened to Slateri. ...For the most part. Slateri and Sidon had gotten really chatty as the evening went on and Link may have occasionally tuned them out when he had had enough of words.

Sidon shook his head again, this time in fond exasperation.

"Slateri told me that in order to warp when you're small, you have to register the shrines in the Minish warp points, with the exception of the shrine where the Vertical Shift rune is received", he explained, wrecking Link's plan in one fell swoop. "This means that your slate doesn't have any more Minish warping points in it that mine does. You can't warp into the Lost Woods."

Link pressed his lips together in dismay. So much for his genius plan, then. However, he could still do the part where he leaves Sidon at the inn and follows Slateri on his own. Though he supposed that depended entirely on whether or not they had fish available at the inn. If not, then he might as well keep Sidon with him, since there would be no difference. He'd have to see about that before deciding anything.

Mind made for now, Link kept quiet about his thoughts.

ooooo

Traveling on a pebble-y terrain was grueling. Link was quite used to the sand of the Gerudo Desert, and not bothered by it anymore. He was used to the snow in Hebra and other mountains, and could trudge through it without thinking about it anymore. But the pebbles, the endless, deep heaps of pebbles were new to him, and weren't as easy to walk on as one might think; they shifted under his feet, making every step unsteady, and caused so much noise that he was constantly on guard and waiting for enemies. What Slateri had said was a six hour trip ended up taking the two of them eight hours. Even Sidon was exhausted and quiet by the time they finally saw the first sight of Minish dwellings.

"Ah, I think I can see a house ahead!" Sidon said tiredly, but excitedly, and pointed forward.

Link squinted. He could definitely see what he assumed to be the fence of the stable, and a bunch of leaves, but no house. However, if Sidon said there was a house, then there was a house.

They picked up their speed, eager to get a decent meal and rest after the damned pebbles. After a few minutes Link could also see the house; turned out he had been just short enough to be unable to see it when Sidon already had. He made a mental note to have Sidon act as a scout during the rest of their journey, Minish or not.

It didn't take them long to reach the edge of the Minish town, and Link smiled widely at the sight of it. The whole town was hidden underneath huge leaves and flowers, and the houses matched the surroundings; the walls were wooden and the roofs were made of leaves and occasionally decorated with the same flowers growing around them, likely perfectly camouflaging them when viewed from above by the "big people", as Slateri had put it. Some of the houses were even made entirely out of grass that was still attached to the ground, with just the top ends tied up into a teepee-like structure. At least, Link assumed those to be houses, too.

Walking and frolicking between the houses were the Minish. Most of them were Slateri's size, some were bigger, some smaller, and Link could see both children and adults, as well as a couple of obviously elderly ones. All were dressed more or less the same, with leaf tunics and pointy cloth hats. Some had flower petals instead of leaves, and some had actual cloth tunics, but leaves were obviously the popular choice. All of their faces looked the same to Link. Had Slateri been there, he wouldn't have been able to tell them apart from the others. Did… Did this make him a racist? Not being able to even tell men from women?

He was secretly very glad he wasn't expected to talk out loud to them and mess anything up before his brain caught up to what his mouth was saying.

Speaking of which, the nearest few Minish stopped whatever they were doing to stare at him and Sidon with wide eyes.

"We should probably greet them before they decide we might be the enemy", Sidon muttered, before putting on a cheerful smile and waving. "Hey there, friends! It's a pleasure to visit your lovely village."

The Minish looked at each other, seeming confused. They whispered to each other for a while, making Link's own smile deflate a little, before one of them stepped forward warily.

"Pico?"

What?

"Pardon me?" Sidon asked, still smiling and polite as ever.

"Pico pico, picori?" the Minish asked.

...This wasn't good.


	7. Do you speak Hylian?

Link stared at the Minish for a moment, then sighed and poked at Sidon's arm to get his attention.

'How screwed are we?' he signed, which made Sidon wince.

"Mind your language, please", Sidon said, making Link roll his eyes. "Don't despair yet, I might still be able to handle this."

Link gave him a 'go ahead', then crossed his arms and waited. He took notice of the fact that the Minish hadn't exclaimed in sudden understanding at his signing either, despite the fact that they had clearly been paying attention. So that wasn't useful either; not that he had expected it to be anyway after Slateri's complete lack of understanding.

Sidon cleared his throat. "Do you speak Hylian?"

That was his plan?

The Minish looked at him uncomprehendingly, just like before. They glanced back at the others, who were working really hard on avoiding eye contact, most likely so that they couldn't be dragged into this. Link didn't blame them.

"That's a no then", Sidon said, then asked the same in Zora. Alright, now that was more like a plan.

It didn't work either. Sidon wasn't done, though, and asked again in what Link recognized as Rito, even if he didn't speak it. Still nothing. Sidon looked hesitant, then spoke again, haltingly, in what Link assumed to be Goron, judging from the cracking and throaty way it was pronounced. He had to admit that he was impressed; he hadn't known Sidon spoke so many different languages. Had to be the decades of royal education. Too bad that didn't work either.

Sidon started to look despairing, but cleared his throat once more and let out very familiar sounding gurgling shrieks, which made Link stare at him with wide eyes. Was Sidon… speaking Lizalfos? They had a language? They weren't just shrieking nonsense that didn't mean anything? Were they... actual people?

Whatever the case, it didn't yield results. The Minish looked vaguely impressed at the display of so many different sounds, but clearly didn't understand any of it. Sidon sighed, and turned to look at Link again.

"I'm unable to handle this", he said miserably. Link smiled and patted his arm comfortingly.

'If it makes you feel better, I'm very impressed', he signed, which brought Sidon's beautiful smile back. At least something was working correctly.

He heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, and the both of them turned to look at the Minish. They looked determined now, and proceeded to point at the two of them, then at themselves, then towards the village.

Well, that message was very universal and clear. Link smiled and nodded, while Sidon gave a relieved laugh.

They followed the Minish, really hoping the mess could be solved by that. Somehow.

ooooo

It didn't take them long to be led to the biggest building in the village. It looked very... official inside: there were drawings of same-looking Minish on the walls, a vase of flowers at every doorway, and there were half a dozen Minish running to and fro with papers in their arms. The town hall, probably.

The Minish leading them took them to one of the doors and knocked nervously. They had to wait a couple of minutes for an answer, but finally another Minish opened the door, took one look at Sidon and immediately squeaked and shut the door in their faces. The Minish with them looked sheepish and knocked again. The door was opened to a crack, the Minish inside peeked out warily, and the one with them seized the chance to talk to them before they could retreat again. After what was presumably an explanation, the Minish inside looked the two of them over, gave them a hesitant smile, and opened the door wider to invite them in.

Link and Sidon glanced at each other, feeling hopeful but apprehensive, and then stepped in. Their escort took this chance to flee the scene. Link couldn't blame them this time either.

The Minish official cleared their throat.

"I speak little Hylian. You speak Hylian?" they asked, much to Link and Sidon's relief.

"Yes, and I'm so very glad that there's someone here who understands us!" Sidon said enthusiastically. "I'm Prince Sidon of the Zora, and this is Link. We're here because-"

The Minish official looked increasingly more bewildered, and Link tapped on Sidon's arm to stop the onslaught of words and to catch his attention.

'Speak slower. I don't think they understood all of that', he signed. He was more than used to seeing that particular brand of bewilderment on peoples' faces after they claimed to understand sign language, but apparently weren't as good at it as they had thought. He would recognize it anywhere.

Sidon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Ah, pardon my enthusiasm", he said, slower this time. "I'm Sidon, the Zora Prince. This is Link. Nice to meet you."

The Minish nodded slowly, processing the words.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Officeri, I am, uh, leader of town", the Minish, Officeri, said. "I welcome you to Stable Town. Um, enjoy your stay?"

Their speech was very slow, had a heavy accent and, worryingly, mostly consisted of common phrases that they had probably memorized from wherever they had learned Hylian. Link dearly hoped that it wasn't all they knew.

Sidon seemed to have noticed the same, as he looked a little wary as he spoke, oh so slowly and carefully.

"Thank you, Officeri. I take it that it's uncommon for Minish to speak Hylian?" he asked.

Officeri bit their lip in thought, then nodded. "Yes, uncommon. Not visitors in many, many years. Only learn if, uh, in office. Why Slateri not give you nut?"

Link and Sidon looked at each other in confusion. Nut? What and why? Link gestured at Sidon to ask, which he did promptly.

Officeri looked equally confused, and somewhat disappointed. "Slateri give visitors nut to speak Minish. You not see Slateri?"

"We did see Slateri but we didn't receive any nuts", Sidon answered, while Link took a moment to mentally berate Slateri for apparently not doing their job. He took another moment to feel regret for not using any nuts in their dinner or breakfast; at least then he could have lucked out and accidentally used the correct one.

"You don't suppose anyone has any of those nuts in here?" Sidon asked, although he didn't seem particularly hopeful. Link wouldn't have even bothered with the question, himself.

"No, only Slateri", Officeri answered after a long while of pondering. "I send, uh… messenger? To visit Slateri and ask nut. You wait and visit town? I come with you and speak?"

Link and Sidon, once more, glanced at each other in silent communication. Link didn't particularly feel like walking back to Slateri's house, so he would gladly accept someone else doing it. And since they didn't speak Minish, they needed Officeri's help if they wanted to accomplish anything while they waited. He nodded, and Sidon smiled.

"We accept, thank you very much."

ooooo

After sending a messenger to Slateri, Officeri took them to what was presumably a restaurant. The both of them were happy to see food, even though Sidon had to once more make-do with not getting fish. He was much too polite and diplomatic to say anything about if after his initial inquire about fish was met with head shakes, so he just ate what he was given and managed to look content with it. Link, on the other hand, enjoyed the meal immensely; it consisted of nuts, seeds, and flower petals, and was seasoned and baked just so. He wondered if he could get the recipe once they were better able to communicate with their hosts, or if it was a trade secret.

After that Officeri led them around the town, trying their best to understand and answer Sidon's endless stream of questions about the architecture, the culture, the clothes, and whatever else he asked about. From Officeri's haltingly spoken explanation Link managed to piece together that the Minish had magical abilities that both allowed them to hide from big people as long as they didn't stick out too much from their surroundings, and also made the big people subconsciously avoid any places with enough Minish in it, thus making it virtually impossible for their villages to be accidentally trampled despite the big people not noticing them. If they didn't have that, they would only be able to live in places that big people didn't frequent, so it was convenient and logical.

The two of them were also introduced to various Minish. Officeri's wife, Threaderi, was a seamstress and gifted Link with Minish leafwear, which he changed into right away. For some unexplainable reason he longed for the hat to be green, but he was happy with anything when it was free; besides, he could have it dyed in Hateno if the feeling persisted. Threaderi didn't have anything to fit Sidon, but she promised to have an outfit ready for him by tomorrow. It's not like they could leave anytime soon anyway, not without the nut to help them understand Minish, so it was very likely they would still be here at that time. They needed to visit the stable, too, and that would likely take long.

Another Minish they met was a merchant, Scavenri. Turned out that at least the currency was still rupees even here. Link idly wondered if the Minish rupees would grow big with them, or stay as tiny shards. After all, their belongings had all shrunk with them, so there was a chance it worked the other way around too.

Scavenri had interesting wares. He apparently scavenged in the forest and by the stable for unusual goods, such as human tableware (according to him, spoons were super popular among commoners, while knives were wanted by other merchants), bird eggs (they were tough to acquire due to their size and the height of the trees), crickets (Link bought cricket legs to sample later, they looked delicious), sugar cubes (there was a long list of requests for that), occasionally mice (not today, to Link's regret), pins, scraps of leather, ribbons (Threaderi usually bought all the cloth items he brought in), and whatever else interesting he could find. He reminded Link of Beedle, who he was quite fond of, and he made a mental note to leave him a stash of small goods somewhere once he was big again. He could easily acquire a bunch of sugar and he would bet the Minish would be ecstatic were he to leave a colourful handkerchief for their clothing use.

After Scavenri, they met Nuteri, who was in charge of the food gathering troops. She and her troop of gatherers went into the forest to collect nuts, seeds, berries and flower petals for the citizens; their expeditions typically lasted a couple of days because of the locations of the gathering spots. It was a very admirable and dangerous job because of all the bigger creatures the foods attracted. Link could see himself being a guard for these troops, were he actually a Minish. Maybe he would volunteer for it one day, just for the experience.

Then there was Buildeson who was a construction worker, and made Link wonder whether Tarrey Town had Minish in it or not. Probably not, since it was so new and even short distances were time-consuming for the Minish, and news likely traveled slowly. Apparently Buildeson was considered odd because of his chosen name, which made Link realize that he really had become Bolson Construction's official recruiter since he hadn't even noticed anything off; he was too consumed by the thoughts of welcoming this new 'son' to the family. He would… probably need to talk to someone about it. Maybe Zelda – she was good at dealing with his oddities.

After those two, they met Slateri, who-

Wait.

"Oh, Slateri!" Sidon said enthusiastically, looking about ready to scoop the panting Minish into his muscular arms. "You arrived much quicker than I would have thought physically possible, I must say I'm very impressed."

Link only wanted to know whether or not Slateri actually brought the nuts they needed. If not, he would scream. He would scream so loudly.


	8. Am I supposed to have met her, sir?

Slateri held up a finger, while leaning against their knees with their other hand, working to catch their breath. Link crossed his arms and waited, while his eyes searched Slateri's person. Oh, there was a promising messenger bag. His posture became less hostile as his hopes got up, and he glanced at Sidon to see similar expression dawn on his handsome face.

After a moment or two, Slateri was finally able to speak again.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness and Link", they said, and Link saw the look of fond exasperation on Sidon's face; he had tried and failed to get Slateri to drop the honorifics and just call him by his name before they left. "I forgot to give you something important, and I went after you as soon as I realized it."

Link nodded impatiently, and only Sidon's look his way stopped him from thrusting his hand out in a wordless demand. The poor prince was teaming up with Zelda (or maybe they were doing it independently of one another, he didn't know) in trying to teach him some manners, but he was rather resistant to their attempts. It wasn't his fault that manners were one of the things he lost with his memories, and being practically mute made it easier to just demand things with gestures rather than try to be silently polite about it with someone who didn't understand the language. But he was slowly getting better, at least when they were watching.

Slateri reached into the bag, and pulled out two of those weird moving nuts Link had seen and dismissed yesterday. Damn it, he had seen them and not asked. He was so used to weird things happening around him that he no longer bothered to question them, and now it had bitten him in the ass.

"These are Jabber Nuts, and they will enable you to understand and speak Minish", Slateri said, and held them out. Link snatched his up before Sidon could remind him of manners. "Or well, in Link's case just understand, I suppose."

Link didn't bother correcting Slateri about their assumption of total muteness on his part. It tended to just confuse things, and it was fun to watch others' reactions when one day he was suddenly able to talk to them. Sidon's face had been priceless.

Speaking of Sidon, he thankfully kept quiet as well. Link was pretty sure Sidon thought his ability to talk was a secret, and hadn't told anyone about it. It was damn cute, so Link wasn't about to correct him anytime soon.

Link pointed at his Jabber Nut, and then at his mouth questioningly. Slateri chuckled and nodded.

"Yes, you eat it and it'll work in a few minutes", they said, and Link promptly shoved the nut into his mouth, gave it a few chews, and swallowed. It tasted… well, nutty. Slightly spicy?

Everyone was quiet for a while, then Slateri asked, "Is it working?"

Link rolled his eyes. Maybe actually testing it would be more effective a way to find out, yeah?

"Assuming you asked that in Minish just now, then yes", Sidon answered.

Wait... Oooh. Right, yes, that made sense. Smart. Link nodded too, when eyes landed on him questioningly.

Officeri clapped their hands together with a wide smile. "Most excellent! This will make everything much simpler for everyone. I'm glad I could be of help for you in the previous awkward situation, and that it was so neatly resolved. Now, I must thank Messengeri for-"

Officeri looked around, while Slateri looked mildly confused. Link was thrown by Officeri's sudden perfect way of speaking after the halted Hylian from before. Magically understanding another language was weird…

"Um, Slateri? Where is Messengeri?" Officeri asked, looking like they dreaded the answer.

"Am I supposed to have met her, sir?" Slateri asked, and Link could see where this was going. He bit his lip to keep from snickering, while Sidon coughed awkwardly and politely feigned interest in the buildings around them.

Officeri closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I see. This is going to be my next headache then, isn't it?"

He collected himself and gave Link and Sidon a slightly pinched smile. "Prince Sidon, Link. It was a pleasure to meet you and to act as your guide, but it seems that I'm needed elsewhere. Have a wonderful stay, and come see me if you need anything. Slateri, come with me."

"Bye! Hopefully we'll see again!" Slateri said and waved, while being almost dragged off by Officeri.

"Thank you both for your help, farewell!" Sidon said with an enthusiastic wave. Link waved as well, silently wishing Slateri luck with the trouble they seemed to be in, deserved or not.

For a moment, the two of them silently adjusted to their new situation. Then Sidon turned to him.

"Stable, right?"

Link grinned and nodded.

ooooo

As Officeri was obviously busy, they opted to ask Scavenri for directions to the stable, which he was happy to provide. While the trip to the stable was long, it was still a popular visiting spot so the Minish had a well-worn underground path to it that they could use. He warned them, though, that the stable itself was dangerous to navigate in, so they should to stick to the walls and the ceiling beams with the other Minish; the big people couldn't see them and might unknowingly step on them. Nobody survived being stepped on.

With that in mind, Link and Sidon departed the town and entered the underground path. They climbed down one of the ladders marked with an arrow down, and came to the mouth of the tunnel proper.

"Wow, would you look at this!" Sidon said in awe as they stepped in.

The path had been carved deep into the earth and was fortified with thick wooden beams and ceiling. There were deep gutters on both sides of the tunnel, probably to safely guide the rainwater that inevitably got in. Glowing lanterns were hung up on the ceiling to bring light; as Link peered closer into one, he saw Electric Chuchu jelly inside. There were also a few Minish walking towards them, presumably headed to the Stable Town; they were all carrying heavy looking bags with them, probably souvenirs.

"Imagine if we had a tunnel like this between Zora's Domain and Kakariko Village", Sidon mused, looking fascinated. "Nobody would have to cross the dangerous mountains or do a lengthy trip around them. It would be very convenient. The Minish are ingenious!"

Link smiled. 'They have to be if they want to survive. At least we "big people" don't have to worry about being stepped on by anything but Hinoxes and Taluses, and they are rare enough.'

"Ah, true. Still, it's an idea worth considering", Sidon said, studying the beams. "Perhaps we could enlist the Gorons to help with the digging…"

Link chuckled quietly and started walking leisurely ahead without Sidon. It took a couple of minutes for the Zora to even notice he was gone, but Sidon caught up soon enough. It's not like they could lose one another in a straight tunnel.

As they walked ahead they saw more and more Minish headed to the other direction and giving them curious glances. Or giving Sidon curious glances anyway, Link blended in well enough with his short stature and the new Minish clothes. Sidon, being tall and red and distinctly fishy looking, would never blend in. That, and he also waved cheerfully at anyone who looked at him long enough. Link hid a smile.

After roughly half an hour of walking they arrived to a chamber-like section that had tables, chairs, and barrels of water in it. There were a lot of Minish resting their feet and seizing their chance to put their luggage down for a moment.

"I would guess that this is the halfway mark", Sidon said with a wide smile, and made his way to one of the water barrels. There were ladles and cups nearby, so it was clearly meant for common use. Sidon took a long drink, and then poured a couple of cups over himself to moisten up. Link took a drink as well, while trying to keep from laughing at the scandalized looks from the nearby Minish; they had clearly never seen a Zora before and couldn't even begin to understand the strange ritual of drenching oneself on purpose. It was necessary for Sidon, though, as the tunnel was a little warmer than what was comfortable and had gotten worse the deeper they went. He hadn't gotten around to soaking in the Stable Town, either. With any luck, it would get cooler again from this point on.

"Umm, excuse me?" one particularly small Minish said, looking at Sidon hesitantly. Link would estimate them to be a young adult at best, but probably no longer a child, as they hadn't seen any in the tunnel so far. The trip was probably too long. "Why are you washing up here of all places?"

Sidon gave them a delighted smile, and turned fully towards them.

"Is that what it looks like to you?" he asked, and crouched to be more on their level. The Minish took half a step back, but looked more curious than anything else. "I'm actually just moistening my skin. I'm a Zora, which is an aquatic race, so staying on land and especially in hot places isn't exactly ideal, and as such I need to soak every now and then. Just pouring on some water works in a pinch."

The Minish looked awed and nodded. They were working hard on looking Sidon in the eyes, but their own eyes seemed to constantly be drawn to his tail instead. Sidon's smile widened as he noticed this, and he turned his head a bit to showcase the tail properly. The Minish's eyes widened, and then they actually squeaked when Sidon wagged the tail.

"Willyoudateme?" they asked, then clapped their hands over their mouth in shock and blushed scarlet. While Link felt the jealous urge to go and yank Sidon away from the infatuated Minish, he also completely understood and sympathized with them; only his inability to talk with strangers had stopped him from blurting something similar out when he first saw Sidon. Not that the sentiment had gone away at any point, but it was easier to control after he had gotten used to it.

Sidon blinked in confusion, then chuckled in delight. "Oh, I'm truly flattered, thank you. But I must decline. Not that you aren't a very pretty lady, but I'm afraid keeping in touch would prove to be too difficult."

...Wait, Sidon could tell this Minish was a woman? How was he able to tell, and why hadn't he mentioned this ability before? He probably knew Slateri's gender too.

"Oh…", she said, and looked disappointed. "That's too bad. If you change your mind, I live in Stable Town and my name is Wreatheri. I work at the flower decor shop. Drop by."

"Maybe I will, but no promises", Sidon said, and waved bye to Wreatheri as she skittered back to her… friends? Parents? Link wasn't able to tell their ages well enough to guess.

"She was adorable", Sidon said, and Link shrugged noncommittally.

'Muzu will have a heart attack if you marry a Minish.'

Sidon laughed out loud, and clapped Link's shoulder.

"You're quite right. Tempting as that would be, I think I should at least stick to fellow big people", he said, and gave Link's shoulder another pat.

Link tried not to attach any… unreasonably hopeful meaning into those words. Ever since he learned of Mipha's feelings for him, he had given up on any thoughts of pursuing Sidon, her little brother, unless Sidon himself decided to take the initiative. He didn't think that very likely, and was mostly fine with it, but sometimes he could have sworn there was a double meaning behind the things Sidon said or did. Like now.

Sidon broke the moment by stretching, and looking into the direction they should take.

"It seems we ought to stop dawdling if we want to even reach the stable before nightfall. Shall we?"

Link nodded, and they continued their journey.


	9. Could you show us to a table, please?

They finally got out of the tunnel, just as Link was getting sick and tired of it. Now, if it had been more labyrinth-like or had the possibility of treasure or danger in it, it would have been different business. As it was, its dullness didn't suit him long-term.

It seemed Sidon was in agreement.

"Finally. I was starting to get claustrophobic in there", Sidon said, and took a deep breath of fresh air. Link nodded.

They climbed up the ladder, and were greeted with an endlessly tall wood wall. They both looked up, and neither was able to see the roof edge they knew to be there.

"Huh. Usually I can reach the edge of any Hylian stable roof if I just lift my hand", Sidon said in awe. "We truly are tiny now, aren't we?"

Link could only nod in agreement. He had known intellectually that they were the size of insects, and been aware that the pebbles were actually just sand and the tall grass and plants weren't trees, but only now he could actually comprehend the situation fully. This endless wall was the stable, the one he had visited as a big person: where he traded goods with Beedle, slept in the comfortable bed, and ate warm meals. And now it was as tall as a mountain.

He was never going to complain about his height again when he was back to his true size.

"Oh, I can see the door. Let's go in", Sidon said, and Link turned to look. Just a little to their left was a Minish-sized door that camouflaged well into the wooden wall, but had a visible knob that was easy to find for people as small as they were.

Without further ado, they entered.

And were immediately met with an earthquake.

Sidon grabbed a hold of the door to keep his balance, and Link grabbed onto Sidon's arm. The source of the disturbance was clearly visible: a big person, a Hylian based on their footwear, walked right past them with their enormous feet and devastating weight. The whole floor shook from their steps for a few seconds, until they were far enough away for the effect to be diminished.

It was… frankly frightening. Link had a moment where he pictured tons of strange ceramic stomping right next to him and whipping up sand, the smell of ozone heavy in the air and his hair standing up and crackling, while Riju screamed his name…

"Link!"

Link snapped out of it and looked up at Sidon with wide eyes, his sides heaving and the back of his neck sweaty. Sidon looked understandably worried.

"Are you quite alright?" the Zora asked, and leaned down to get a better look. Link shook his head.

'A flashback. Vah Naboris. I'm fine', he signed, and dug a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his neck with. Sidon looked dubious, so Link elaborated. 'I've talked to Zelda about it. Don't worry.'

Sidon's look softened, although he looked a little sad. "If you say so. I'm glad Zelda is there for you where I cannot be."

Link blinked. Was that… Was that how it seemed to Sidon? That he wasn't there for Link? He lifted his hands to sign, but was interrupted by a Minish pointing and yelling at them.

"In the name of Ezlo, what is that?"

Sidon and Link both turned around in alarm to look at direction the Minish was pointing at… and saw nothing of note. Just the endlessly vast big people side of the stable. It took Link a second to realize that the Minish was actually pointing at Sidon, and when he did realize that he turned to give the rude thing a dirty look.

'Excuse you, did you just call my friend a "that"?' Link signed, and was met with a blank look until the Minish dismissed him completely in order to stare at Sidon with wide eyes.

This was getting really old.

"There is no need to be frightened, I'm just a friendly visitor", Sidon said with a smile, which just made the Minish stare at his teeth and take a step back. Sidon's smile dropped, and he scratched his tail awkwardly. "Oh dear. Well, how about we just part ways then? Which way to the-"

The Minish squeaked and ran out of the door.

This was going so well.

'Today's lesson: the Minish either want to date the Zora or they're afraid for their lives around one.'

Sidon gave him a suffering look, so Link smirked and continued. 'Was that a man or a woman? 'Cause if it was the former, then we can make even more assumptions here.'

Sidon looked baffled. "You can't tell their sexes? I'll admit that I couldn't tell which one Slateri was when we first met, but after meeting a few of both sexes it became very obvious.'

Link's smile froze. Very obvious? 'Which one Slateri is, then?'

Now it was Sidon's turn to smirk teasingly. "So you can't tell. I'll let you figure it out yourself, just so you get to exercise your perceptive skills."

Perceptive skills, right. And nothing to do with getting back at Link for making fun of him just now, surely. Link pouted, but Sidon just laughed and began to look around.

"Since we couldn't get directions, we better find our way on our own", he explained, and Link nodded.

Scavenri had said to stick to the walls and the ceiling beams… Link turned towards the wall behind them and searched it with their eyes, and soon spotted two ladders their size. He poked Sidon's side, then pointed.

'Perceptive skills', he signed cheekily, which got him a chuckle.

"Quite right, but I'm still not telling you", Sidon said, and nuzzled Link's hair with his crest. "Shall we?"

Link nodded, and they began their climb up the ladder that had an arrow up sign next to it. The other ladder had an arrow down sign next to it, so the instructions were abundantly clear.

It turned out that the way to the ceiling beams was long and grueling. There were occasionally platforms to rest on and the point where they finally at least reached the ceiling, if not the center part, had a barrel of water and a few cups on it, which they helped themselves to. Yet despite their attempt to not tarry they still took roughly an hour to reach the round, chandelier-like center part that was habitable for the Minish. It was by no means the worst climb Link had endured, but Sidon seemed tired when they were finally up.

"I have to say that I much prefer waterfalls for ascending", he said after giving his arms a good stretch.

'Just wait until we're climbing mountains', Link signed with a grin, which made Sidon give him a slightly wary look. Link didn't plan on telling him quite yet that they didn't necessarily have to climb any mountains unless they really wanted to, since it's not like Sidon actually needed the warp points in obscure places. Sidon was just too cute when he worried over little things to let him in on that yet. That, and he could consider this payback for withholding information from Link now.

"Oh, foreign visitors! Welcome to the Stable Inn and Restaurant!"

They both turned to look at the Minish who addressed them. They were wearing a white cloth tunic and a checkered apron, and carrying an empty tray with them. They seemed quite blasé at seeing them, contrary to the last Minish they saw.

"Good evening", Sidon replied with a polite smile, "You seem to be a waiter, correct? We're quite starved, could you show us to a table, please?"

"With pleasure!"

The three of them walked further in, and Link looked around. The circular ceiling beam slash chandelier was completely covered with Minish sized tables, chairs, barrels, rugs, decorations and cooking materials and equipment as far as Link could see. There were cooks using the Hylian lanterns as ovens and open fires to cook in, and waiters buzzing around to bring food or collect dishes, and of course there were customers sitting at the tables, enjoying their meals. It looked a lot homier than the big people inn, possibly because there was relatively more room to work with so the Minish had gone all out with the furniture. It was also very warm thanks to the huge lanterns.

"Here you go, a table for two. Would you like something to drink?" the waiter asked, and pulled two menus out of their large apron pocket.

'Do you sign?' Link asked, hoping that someone working as a waiter would know their languages. When they looked at him quizzically, he sighed and turned to Sidon. 'I'll take a beer or a mead, if they have either. Milk if not.'

Sidon gave him a look that tried hard to not seem like pity, but failed. At least he tried.

"Let me check the options", he said to the waiter and opened the menu.

He stared.

Then he coughed uncomfortably.

Link frowned in confusion.

"Right then. My friend takes a beer and I'll have water", Sidon said, and put the menu down without checking the actual meal options. "Do you have any fish?"

The waiter wrote their drinks down, then nodded at the question. "Yes, we have Hyrule bass and staminoka bass. Oh! We even have stealthfin trout today, I recommend that one since it's rare."

Link had been about to open his menu to see what about it had made Sidon behave oddly, but he abandoned the mission and looked up at the good news just in time to see the ecstatic smile bloom on his friend's face. He couldn't help his own smile when Sidon turned towards him in excitement.

"They have fish! They have trout even!" Sidon enthused, then turned back to the mildly bemused looking waiter. "I'll take the trout! Actually, can I have some of each? Can I have it raw? Can I buy some to take with us?"

Link chuckled quietly at the waiter's baffled look.

"Oh, um, sure?" they said, then collected themselves. "Yes, we can make an arrangement from all the available fish, and… leave it raw. As for buying something to go, you will have to consult the vendors. They sell raw ingredients."

"Splendid, thank you", Sidon said, then turned to Link. "What would you like to have? Something meaty, I presume?"

Link still hadn't gotten around to actually looking at the options, so he decided to wing it. 'Yes, and make it whatever is the cook's specialty or today's recommendation or whatever. And I'll have a surprise dessert, too.'

Sidon nodded, and then relayed the order to the waiter, who left to get it done.

Sidon smiled happily at Link. "Climbing up here was definitely worth the trouble. How much do you reckon we can carry with us? I know it won't last the whole two weeks, but I can-"

Link waved at him to get his attention. He felt a bit guilty for doing this, but it would be cruel to let Sidon make plans that just… weren't going to happen. Now that he knew that this place had fish available, likely on a regular basis, he had to make the call.

'Sidon. I'm going to continue alone from here on. You should stay here where you're safe and properly fed.'


	10. Ex-fucking-cuse you?

Sidon stared at Link uncomprehendingly until slowly a look of betrayal started to form on his face. Link winced in guilt.

"You're going to leave me behind?" Sidon asked incredulously, and then frowned in anger. "Excuse me, but who gave you the authority to decide that on your own?"

Link shook his head with a grimace. He had known this wouldn't go over well, but there were good reasons for his decision. Surely Sidon would come around.

'This is for the best', Link signed, 'You said it yourself, we can't carry around enough fish to last you the two weeks of travel. Probably not enough for two days, even. You'll be much better off here. I can just take your slate with me, have both devices fixed and then return here to get you. Then we can get back to our planned travels.'

Sidon looked angry but he waited quietly for the whole speech to be finished, much more patient than Link would have been in his situation. It was likely a skill he had learned in order to survive meetings with a lot of different people with varying opinions that he didn't necessarily agree with but had to hear out. Princely manners.

"Are you finished?" Sidon asked after a beat, and Link nodded warily. "Good. I disagree with every point of your plan."

Link gave Sidon an incredulous look. Sure, he hadn't expected this to be easy, but really, every point?

"I am perfectly capable of enduring a bit of hunger and other possible hardship", Sidon said levelly. "I accepted that as a possibility the day we set out to travel, and I'm not planning on balking the moment something goes awry. You said we would travel together, not that we would only travel together when it's convenient."

Link gritted his teeth together. Yes, Sidon had a point. No, he didn't care, he only wanted Sidon's best and starving him was the exact opposite of that. Besides, Sidon clearly didn't see the bigger picture.

'There won't be much water on the route either', Link signed stubbornly, 'You'd be hungry and dry and only slow me down when that starts to become an actual problem. This whole thing will be over with much quicker if I go alone.'

Sidon paused, looking hurt. But then he steeled his expression and leaned over the table menacingly, giving Link a flinty look.

"I see you're not picky about your methods to make me stay", he said with a low voice, which would have sent a much different chill down Link's spine any other time, "Alright then. I didn't want to use this against you, but you're leaving me no choice, you stubborn Hylian."

Link would have liked to say something about pots and kettles, but he was busy being half wary of what was going to happen next, and half enamored at Sidon's rare assertiveness.

"Tell me, Link. How exactly are you planning on communicating with the Minish?" Sidon asked, and leaned back so he could cross his arms over his impressive chest while giving Link a cool glare.

Link's impromptu daydreams about his best friend came to a screeching halt. His jaw dropped at Sidon's sheer nerve. How dare he.

'Ex-fucking-cuse you?' he signed, taking his time to spell the first word letter by letter just so he could add in the middle part.

Sidon looked guilty for a moment before he took a deep breath and adopted an unimpressed look that looked very out of place on him.

"I am completely serious", Sidon said, "You've been unable to converse with any of the Minish we've met so far. Are you trusting that Slateri the First just so happens to understand sign, or that you will meet someone else to translate for you? Or do you expect to be able to vocalize to one of the strangers here? It took you how long to say anything out loud to me? Was it half a year?"

Link seethed with anger, made worse by the fact that Sidon had a very valid point. But there was something Sidon was forgetting.

'Think me completely handicapped without you, do you?' Link signed with a glare, 'Think again. I have struggled with my silence for a long while now, so I've learned how to cope. I don't know if the Zora are familiar with them, but Hylians at least have these things called pencil and paper. You know, things that make it possible to write words even if you're unable to say them.'

Sidon looked a combination of livid and triumphant, which was… unexpected and worrisome.

"Is that so? I had no idea of such advanced technology existing", Sidon said with rare sarcasm, then picked up the menu that the waiter had left at their table in case they wanted to browse desserts after all. He opened it up to a random page and then carefully placed it on the table in front of Link. "Would you be so kind as to enlighten me on what the meal selection on this page is, then?"

Link glared at Sidon, but eventually his gaze dropped to the booklet before him.

He stared, his anger melting into utter confusion.

The words on the page made no sense. In fact, the letters were strange scribble that didn't even look like writing. He grabbed the menu and turned the pages in disbelief but was met with more nonsense.

"Do you suppose the Minish are better at reading Hylian than they are at speaking it?" Sidon asked conversationally, bringing Link's attention back to him.

…Shit.

He struggled to come up with something to say to that, whether it was to stubbornly insist on being right, to apologize, or to somehow change the subject, but he had nothing. Sidon's expression was slowly shifting from angry triumph to sadness, and that hurt more than the anger had.

Then the waiter arrived with their drinks. Link grabbed his beer as soon as the waiter let go of the cup, and took a long drink. Once he had swallowed, he heard Sidon clear his throat awkwardly.

"Link. I'm sorry I was that harsh", Sidon said quietly, "I acted in anger and ended up being tactless. I didn't mean to imply that you can't manage on your own, I merely don't want to be left behind and I think that we're better off staying together in this. I understand your concern, but I assure you I can manage."

Link looked down at his beer, feeling even more wretched than before. Of course Sidon couldn't stop at being right – he also had to go and be the bigger person by apologizing first. He sighed.

'I'm sorry too', he signed, then looked up at his friend, 'I still think it's a bad idea, but you're right that I… probably can't communicate with the Minish. Looks like we're going together.'

Sidon's expression was unreadable for a moment, then he chuckled and shook his head.

"That was probably the worst apology I've ever received, my friend", he said, but looked mollified and amused regardless, "But I accept it on the condition that you won't again try to do things for my own good without consulting me first. You're terrible at it."

Link blew a raspberry at him, but nodded with a relieved smile. If he was being honest he still hurt a little from Sidon using his muteness against him, but he was pretty sure Sidon felt the same about his attempt to leave him behind so they'd just have to deal with their hurts privately. And hopefully never bring this up again.

It didn't take long for their meals to arrive after that, which Link was very happy about for multiple reasons. Not the least of them being that he was starving. He could put aside his hurt for the time being and concentrate on the now.

They dug into their foods with gusto, Sidon gushing about how good his meal was after practically every bite (after he finished chewing and swallowed, because he had actual manners). Link couldn't blame him, and was so satisfied with his own food that he probably would have done the same if he didn't need his hands for the eating. He wasn't actually able to tell what meat his food was made of, but he frankly didn't care when it was as savory as it was. There was actual rice on the side, too. The grains were huge and he only recognized them as rice because of the familiar taste.

After they finished with the main course, their desserts arrived. Link had never had wildberry curd before and he mentally declared it the best thing he had ever eaten. Although, to be fair, he said that about every dessert he ate, old or new, so maybe it didn't count for all that much. It was too bad he wasn't likely to be given the recipe, since restaurants almost never gave them to him no matter how much he tried to butter them up. He would just have to experiment when he had the opportunity and the ingredients to do so.

They paid for their food, gave the waiter praises to pass to the chef, and then went to the vendors to see about buying fish to go. Neither of them brought up the earlier conversation, and instead carried on like it hadn't happened and their plan had been aligned all along.

Turned out there was plenty of fish available, as one of the big people had brought in a good haul earlier that day. Sidon got very excited at the sight and wanted to buy all of it, but Link stopped him.

'We can't carry that much. We only have two bags with limited space', Link signed, and Sidon looked crestfallen. Link tapped the Zora's bicep comfortingly before continuing. 'However, I know how to smoke what we buy so it won't spoil for a good few days. Have you ever eaten smoked fish jerky?'

Sidon pondered his answer for a moment, then grimaced. "I recall trying it in my youth and hating it. I haven't tried it since, so I can't accurately judge it."

That was enough of an answer for Link. Sidon would just have to tough it out, but it would likely still be easier than constantly starving because of a wrong diet. Maybe it'd keep him from eating more than he absolutely had to and thus make the rations last longer. He signed the sentiment to Sidon, who gave a rueful chuckle.

"That's a silver lining, I suppose."

They bought as much fish as they estimated they could fit in their bags, then went to book a bed space for the night, and to borrow one of the makeshift ovens. The smoking process would take a few hours, so they had no choice but to stay for the night. Granted, it was late and the route back to the town was long, so it was for the best anyway.

'Are you okay sleeping in a place this hot?' Link asked while setting the fish up in his improvised smoking hut with the help of a couple of Minish cooks. They were likely helping him half out of genuine desire to help and half because they wanted to learn his foreign cooking technique, but Link didn't care as long as he got this done faster.

Sidon grimaced slightly. "To be honest, I'll probably sleep fitfully and get up to drink and pour water on myself multiple times, but I'll try to get some rest."

Link hummed in thought, trying to come up with a solution. They had already asked if the Minish had bathtubs or water barrels or something they could use, but turned out they didn't, at least not any to spare or any big enough for Sidon. They did kindly provide Sidon with a couple of bowls of water so that he at least had a decent amount nearby for his use.

"Perhaps I could soak the beddings?" Sidon mused, which made Link look at him questioningly. "It may not keep me properly damp, but it should logically slow the dehydration and certainly keep some of the heat away."

Link smiled, partly amused but mostly just agreeing with the unorthodox solution. He nodded and got back to his work. They would just have to wait and see how things turned out in the morning.


	11. So, what is our plan for the day?

The arrival of the morning was blatantly obvious in the Minish Stable Inn: when the big people awoke and started moving around the whole place shook, and when they spoke to each other the voices were booming like thunder after the silence of the night. Link woke up with a start, his heart hammering and the Master Sword gripped tightly in his hand without any conscious action on his part. He was on his feet and ready to fight before he had the slightest recollection of where he was and why. He looked around frantically and was very confused by his surroundings – particularly the lack of enemies – for a few seconds, until his brain finally caught up with his body and reminded him of the situation at hand.

He slowly lowered the sword, unsure if he should feel foolish for overreacting or glad that his survival instincts were as sharp as ever still. He hadn't woken up battle-ready for a while now, not since his after-Ganon crusade to make Hyrule safer for Zelda to rebuild her kingdom. He had had a break from sudden danger ever since, only finding trouble when he looked for it or in places where it was perfectly reasonable to expect it. Even his nightmares had gotten less intense and less frequent over time, diminishing his reactions to waking up from them to mere gasps and tenseness rather than jumping out of his bed with a weapon in hand. Until now.

"Link? Is something the matter?" Sidon's sleepy voice called from behind him, making Link realize that not only had he gotten ready for a fight, he had also positioned himself to defend Sidon. That was definitely a habit from his travels with Zelda, and considering that Sidon wasn't up and alert yet, despite Link looking like he was about to charge something, it was likely a good habit to have if he wanted to keep the Prince alive. Of course, he didn't know if Sidon's lack of reaction was because of him being unaccustomed to sleeping with one eye open, or because he had been perfectly aware of where he was and the place lacking danger. Link sighed deeply to himself to get his muscles to relax, then turned to look at Sidon who seemed mildly concerned for him.

'No. Fine', Link signed sloppily and lowered his sword. Sidon's eyes followed the movement, but thankfully he didn't comment; instead he gave Link a cheerful smile that hid his obvious tiredness somewhat. Now that Link looked, he could see that Sidon's scales looked rougher than usual and his lips were a bit chapped. He may have stared at the lips for longer than was proper because Sidon gave an awkward cough and sat up, which finally made Link avert his eyes. For now.

"Ah, yes, I probably don't look my best right now", Sidon said, and rubbed a hand over his chest, which produced curious faint snapping sounds thanks to the dry scales. Link almost reached out to try it for himself until he remembered that it would be both rude and a somewhat bad an idea if he didn't want to complicate things between them. "I kept waking up to keep myself hydrated to my best ability, but I must have fallen into deep slumber towards the end and now I'm dryer than ideal."

Link nodded, and wrenched his eyes off his friend's… scales. As in not his chest. In any case, his eyes were no longer on Sidon and instead he located the water bowls and walked over to them while Sidon stretched. One was empty but the other was almost half full. He carried the latter over to Sidon, who accepted it with a bright smile.

"So, what is our plan for the day?" Sidon asked while dipping his hands into the water, patting the wet hands against his body, and repeating the process again and again. It was hypnotic, but Link had the presence of mind to hear the question and answer it, all the while watching Sidon's actions.

'Eat breakfast here, go back to the town, eat there again, visit Threaderi, ask for directions to the next place, then go there. Not necessarily in that order', he answered, then gave it more thought and added: 'Soak you.'

Sidon chuckled. "That sounds like a good plan. I'm all for it."

ooooo

Their breakfast was a quick affair, and Sidon ate as much fish as he could possibly fit in his stomach, knowing he would only be getting it smoked, dry and in small portions from then on. Well, he actually bought one last load from the vendors, which he planned to eat once they were in the city and as such it wouldn't be an extra burden for long, but that would be the last of it.

Their trip back down was mostly uneventful; Sidon only gave a fright to a few early Minish that were on their way up, but that was it. On the floor they had another encounter with a big person stomping by, which may or may not have caused Link to dash- to calmly but quickly walk out of the door in a dignified manner. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

The tunnel was abuzz with Minish who were headed to the Inn, but it was also cooler than yesterday because the sun and the crowd hadn't yet warmed the place up after the night. That was truly a blessing because Sidon still didn't look his best and definitely didn't need to have it made worse. The water treatment from the morning had helped, but he was in dire need of a long soak to actually fix the damage. It didn't make Link feel better about the forced decision to take Sidon with him to the Lost Woods, but he tried to tell himself that Sidon's condition was mostly caused by the extra heat of the inn; he would be totally fine in a lush forest. Hopefully.

Being in the Stable Town was a much different experience now that they understood the language. Sidon still stood out like a sore thumb, but it seemed like many of the Minish had heard the news of their existence by now and were staring and whispering like any proper townsfolk, and of course conveniently gathering wherever they were sighted. Link hadn't realized it the last time because he hadn't know how big a population the town contained, but now it was obvious that yesterday the Minish had avoided them when they could; there were suddenly large crowds of people everywhere, unlike yesterday's relatively quiet streets. Kids kept running up to them to ask the questions the adults didn't dare to ask, and Sidon answered them all happily and to his best ability. Nobody understood Link's signing. He still kept trying, if only to prove Sidon wrong, but so far he had no luck.

They dropped by Threaderi's shop to get Sidon's leafwear, and sweet Hylia was the woman talkative now that they understood each other. She even did her best in including Link in the conversation by asking a lot of yes or no questions that he could answer by simply nodding or shaking his head. It was… considerate, Link supposed, even if he would rather have quietly escaped the onslaught of words. He wasn't fond of having long conversations with people he didn't know, especially when they didn't understand him.

Sidon looked handsome as ever in his new clothes, though. He was so tall that the usual model of leaves that go from shoulders to the floor would have looked awkward, so Threaderi had improvised and made him a short poncho-like top and a knee length skirt-like bottom. It left Sidon's midriff bare and Link approved of it wholeheartedly. Ten out of ten, Sidon should never ever cover his stomach with anything, ever. He also got a green ribbon on the end of his tail instead of the standard triangle hat, probably because the hat wouldn't likely stay on his head. It was damn adorable. Link took a sneaky picture with his slate and made sure to save it to keep it forever.

"You look dashing, sweetie!" Threaderi said and clapped her hands in delight. "Why, if I wasn't married I would snatch you right up!"

...That was another Minish woman fancying his… friend. Link would be disappointed if there wasn't a Prince Sidon fan club here by the time he visited again.

"Thank you, you're too kind!" Sidon said with a wide smile, and turned to look at Link. "What do you think, my friend?"

I would snatch you right up too and I'm in fact single, was what Link didn't say. Instead he gave a thumbs-up and a nod, which seemed to delight Sidon immensely.

"I'm glad! And what's better, we match now", Sidon said happily, and nuzzled the top of Link's head, almost dislodging his hat. Link tried his very best to appear largely unaffected and to not read too much into any of it. But inwardly he was screaming and wanted to kiss the face rubbing against his hat and tell Sidon about the Hylian custom of "a couple look". But he didn't. He didn't want to ruin this.

"Yes, you two look perfectly fashionable together!" Threaderi chimed in, clearly as clueless as Sidon. Then again, considering that most of the Minish wore the same kind of clothes, it wasn't a surprise that they didn't have that particular custom in common with Hylians.

'Can we leave before she starts talking again?' Link asked, eager to move on from the dangerous topic and from this place. Sidon grimaced, and then looked at Threaderi and seemed like he was going to apologize for Link's rudeness. Then he visibly realized that Threaderi was actually clueless to Link's words and swallowed what he had been about to say. Smooth.

"Link, ah, reminded me that we have other places to be", Sidon said, and made his excuse seem very polite, too, with his dazzling Prince Smile, "We thank you kindly for your generosity and the pleasant company. It was lovely seeing you again."

Threaderi looked flattered and gushed a few compliments of her own as she led them out. They would, of course, always be welcome to visit her whether they bought anything or not, and she would tell her husband hi for them in case they didn't see him before they left, and so on and so forth. Link was starting to believe they would never be let go, but thankfully she didn't do the thing where you're trying to leave but the other person keeps on hanging by the doorway and talking despite you trying to inch away and saying the appropriate conversation enders that should clue them in on the fact that you want to leave already. She just told them bye, waved, and went back in. Yes, they could visit her again sometime, she was sensible enough. Link approved of her.

Their next stop was the public bathhouse to soak Sidon up. They had to rent out the family pool because Sidon was simply too big for any bathtub meant for a single Minish, but at least they could both fit into it comfortably, so that was fine. Link smelled like smoke and fish from working with Sidon's rations, so it was for the best that he cleaned up too while he had the chance. That, and there was no way he was skipping the opportunity to bathe with Sidon, even if the activity had to be kept perfectly innocent.

After a good hour of soaking, and Link trying not to make it weird while inwardly enjoying it a little too much, Sidon looked good as new. The Minish who had to clean the pool would likely have an interesting experience picking up the loose scales that were left behind in abundance. Though who knew, maybe they would make a profit by selling exotic Zora scale jewelry or something if they were a resourceful person. That'd be fun to find out about the next time.

They stopped by Scavenri's place to have lunch with him, partly because according to Sidon it would be an etiquette blunder to bring one's own meal into a restaurant, meaning his fish, and partly because Link wanted more of the tasty grasshopper legs he had bought the last time. They also figured he'd be able to give them directions to the next place.

They were right.

"The path is well worn, so you shouldn't have a problem following it to the next town", Scavenri said as he pointed out the route on the map he had just sold them. "The actual problem is that you have to cross the big people road and this is the busiest part of it. They don't frequent the woods itself, so the deeper you go the safer you are, but this part here is in constant use. Since you won't make it to the next town today anyway, my recommendation is to go to this spot here and camp out until the nightfall and then cross safely. Mind, you shouldn't usually travel at night, but in this case it's actually the safer option. There aren't many hazards on the big people road during nights, and running into a few Chuchus is definitely preferable to being stepped on."

Link dropped his grasshopper leg on the table so he could quickly sign to Sidon: 'Ask him about the Chuchus!'

Sidon looked baffled, but did as asked. "Link wants to inquire about the Chuchus. I… assume he means the fact that they're rather on the large side compared to our current size?"

Link nodded, back to chewing his food while paying rapt attention.

Scavenri looked equally confused, but then shrugged. "Chuchu come in different sizes. They get bigger by absorbing each other or spare pieces of the smashed ones, but once they reach a certain size they stop paying attention to us. The worst ones are about thrice as tall as us, much like you, Prince Sidon. This close to the big people they don't typically get to grow very big before they're smashed again, so we have lots of… Minish sized around, you could say. They're mighty useful though, so no complaints here."

Link nodded thoughtfully, thinking back to the Electric Chuchu jelly lanterns in the tunnel, and the Fire Chuchu jelly that substituted actual fire in Slateri's house. He imagined the Minish used Ice Chuchu jelly in their ice boxes, should they need them, although that kind would likely be uncommon because making it would require something to freeze it with. Maybe they had an ice arrow stored somewhere for that purpose? If not, Link could make a fortune by selling them one…

In the end Scavenri made a lot of helpful little marks on their new map, should they need shelter or food or water in the nearby parts of the woods. He also advised them to ask the food gatherer troops or his colleagues in other towns for more information as they progressed, since he had only traveled so far. Link and Sidon thanked him heartily for all the help, and finally headed out of the town and towards the forest.

Time to track down Slateri the First.


	12. I'm assuming it isn't a hostile gesture?

The first three hours of their travel was a piece of cake, really. They followed a clear mulch-based footpath along the big people fence, and the most interesting thing to happen was seeing a few huge bugs between the enormous leaves of grass surrounding the path. Fascinating as that was, the bugs weren't threatening or even remotely interested in them, so the excitement wasn't very long-lasting. Sidon took a few pictures of the bugs with his slate, but that was that.

They took a snack break when they reached the point where they would be leaving the safety of the fence, and Sidon made a hilariously disgusted face at the smoked fish jerky.

"I can barely taste the fish itself underneath the flavour of smoke", Sidon said after he swallowed. He gave the rest of the portion a sour look. "It's so dry too, like eating sand that's been drying right above the waterline for weeks."

Link shrugged and tried to hold in his need to laugh at the poor Prince's expense, especially at the very specific comparison that implied Sidon had, indeed, eaten the mentioned sand before. Perhaps as a child, or someone had pushed him into it during fighting practice, or maybe he had just estimated his swimming speed wrong and crashed into the shore. Either way a funny mental image. Instead of laughing, because he was considerate sometimes, he dug out an apple from his backpack and held it out. He signed one-handedly: 'Nice and juicy.'

Sidon looked at the offering, then sighed and accepted it gratefully enough. He dutifully ate his nasty fish with the less nasty apple, and it seemed to go down a little better.

They continued on to the big rocks, now more like mountains, at the side of the big people road and prepared to settle into the bushes next to them to wait for the nightfall, as per Scavenri's instructions. The road they would have to cross looked as vast as the Gerudo Desert, and rougher to traverse than the mountains Link had crossed: there were pebbles, rocks, and sticks the size of fallen trees all over the place, not to even mention the craters that were big people footprints.

However, Link wasn't feeling patient about sitting still when there was daylight left for roughly three more hours. He peered into the direction of the stable, then towards the forest, and upon seeing nothing approaching waved to catch Sidon's attention.

'Maybe we should just cross now', he signed. 'I don't see any big people and it wasn't that long since we ate so I'm good to go.'

Sidon frowned at him. "I see your point, but Scavenri advised us to wait. He has traveled this path before so he ought to know what he's talking about."

Link had to admit to himself that listening to the locals was generally a good thing to do, but he had also found a lot of interesting places and adventures by doing the exact opposite. So he waved his hand dismissively. 'This road isn't much used. It only leads to the Lost Woods and nobody goes there. It's late enough that there won't be kids running around the stable. It's not my first time in here either.'

Sidon looked conflicted. He glanced at the desolate road, then at the still bright sun, then at the bag by his side. He grimaced slightly, most likely considering the fact that the longer their journey took, the longer he had to endure eating the jerky. In the end it seemed that his own comfort was the most compelling argument, as he stood up and threw the bag over his shoulder with a determined look.

"Alright", he said and joined Link at the edge of the road. "We'll just be quick about this. Scavenri said it'll take an hour to cross the road, and that's with him carrying his scavenged goods and with his small Minish legs. Surely we can do this faster if we try."

'That's the spirit!' Link signed, then the two of them gave one more glance at both directions before beginning to cross the road.

The endless sea of pebbles felt even tougher to travel through this time around than it had at the beach, possibly because they had gotten used to the gentle Minish paths they had walked on all day. They had to go around a huge pothole at one point, and Sidon looked severely tempted by the puddle in the middle of it; Link had to remind him that they didn't have the time to dally and climbing back up the pebble-y walls would be next to impossible. Sidon was obviously bummed, but had to concede the point. Link briefly worried about Sidon's current state of hydration because of this, but his scales looked fine; out of water for hours dry, but not dehydrated dry.

It was when they were roughly at the halfway mark that their luck ran out. The ground started to tremble gently at first and it got worse by every passing second. Thundering stomps, clacking gravel, impossibly loud screeching and teeth-grinding creaking approached at an alarming pace. They turned to look towards the forest with wide eyes.

A big person with a huge donkey and an enormous cart came out of the forest and towards the stable. Fast. Too fast for them to be able to run to the safety of either side of the road, much less in this terrain.

Sand, mulch and gravel was flying around with every enormous step the big person took. Pebbles were raining from the bottoms of their boots, and one hit on the head would be fatal. The donkey had four feet with hard hooves that crushed pebbles like they were made of thin glass. The cart had four wide wheels that ground the path underneath flat.

Link was frozen on the spot, wide eyes staring at nothing.

Air tasted like ozone and the wind was whipping sand into his face as he tried to take aim while furiously calculating the effect the whirlwinds would have and electricity crackled and Riju screamed for him to return to the protective circle now-

"Link!" Sidon shouted in alarm, grabbed his arm, and pulled him into motion. Link's brain was going in circles but he ran by instinct alone and scrambled through the tough terrain, acutely aware of the noise getting closer and louder and the earth shaking worse with each giant step. Sidon lost his footing from the quake but got up hurriedly. Link had to jump to safety when a pebble gave under his feet. Their progress was minuscule at best.

Then a giant foot stomped down behind them, making a crater into the ground and whipping sand and mulch into their eyes. Both of them fell prone from the force alone. Link could hear Sidon's voice but was unable to make out the words in the chaotic noise all around them. He scrambled up in pure panic, but was sent back to the ground when another giant foot hit the ground. He started crawling desperately, pushing his way through the pebbles at a snail's pace and he lost track of Sidon's whereabouts in the struggle.

He had barely made any progress when a shadow fell over him and his eyes widened. He shot up to his feet, thanking Hylia that there wasn't another quake happening right that second, and hurled himself recklessly to the side right in time to avoid an enormous hoof crashing into the spot he had been occupying a second ago. Pebbles broke into million pieces under the hard and heavy hoof and rained on him painfully as he scrambled backwards to get more distance. Then another hoof crashed down right behind him, just barely missing him and way too close for comfort. He hurled himself forward right before the hoof lifted up again, narrowly avoiding getting his head bashed in by its momentum.

Despite the scare, he knew he was safe now; that was the big person past him, the donkey past him, and that left just the cart. He had seen enough carts to know that it would be wider than the donkey, and thus the wheels wouldn't be anywhere near him at this point as long as he stayed put. So he pushed his panic to the back of his mind and started looking around for Sidon, a different flavour of fear rising within his chest.

He spotted a flash of red on the ground right before the cart wheel blocked it from his vision, making Link's heart jump out of his chest.

"SIDON!" he screamed, and started a mad scramble towards the spot, time feeling like it was standing still. The wheel passed, he saw the red thing laying on the ground unmoving, and then the next wheel rolled by, blocking the view again. He couldn't tell if it ran over Sidon or merely passed by him. He could only pray to Hylia that it was the latter, as he hurried towards the spot, cursing every pebble in his path and every quake that made him fall.

Finally the wheel rolled away and he could see Sidon laying still while Link kept getting back up every time he lost his footing. By the time he reached Sidon the quakes were lessening as the big person got further and further away from them.

And then Sidon sat up like it was nobody's business, obviously not crushed to death.

"That was close", he muttered seemingly to himself. He looked like he was about to say something more but he didn't have the time to do that before he was tackle-glomped by Link. They fell to the ground with Sidon giving an undignified yelp and Link wrapping his limbs tightly around the flailing Zora while pressing his face into his neck, not giving a single damn about the silver neck piece biting into his cheek.

"I thought you were dead!" Link cried hoarsely and pressed a relieved kiss on the uncovered spot on Sidon's throat.

"Link- Gills-"

Link loosened the grip of his feet and moved them a bit until he heard Sidon take a deep breath, then resolutely re-fastened them on the acceptable spot. He dropped another kiss with a satisfied sigh, just so damn happy that Sidon was alive that he didn't give Ganon's ass about propriety. Sidon's arms wrapped around his middle after a moment, too.

They stayed like that until both of them had caught their breaths, their hearts had stopped trying to break loose, and they could no longer hear the big person stomping in the distance.

Sidon broke the silence hesitantly. "Were you nibbling my neck just now? Ah, just checking."

Oh, so he had noticed. Link had half-hoped he hadn't so that he wouldn't need to explain himself and possibly complicate things between them.

"Yes", Link answered, not really feeling like correcting him on the act being kissing rather than nibbling, and using more words than necessary. It was semantics to him anyway now that he was caught, and Sidon just might have an explanation of his own to the suggested situation, while the actual action might raise more questions.

"Alright then", Sidon said, "I'm assuming it isn't a hostile gesture among Hylians?"

Link snorted, not even dignifying that with an answer.

"I figured as much. The tackling hurt considerably more anyway and I know that was out of affection, so… carry on, I suppose. I'm happy to see you mostly unhurt as well."

…Link wasn't going to question his luck or think too hard about his life choices or consequences when he was given a permission like that. No, he just firmly attached his lips to Sidon's neck and gave it an actual nibble after a short moment of pure gentle pressure of lips against scales. He sighed in bliss and moved on to a different spot higher on Sidon's neck, enjoying the jump in Sidon's pulse at the gesture. If he was crossing some kind of a line here, it was Sidon's own doing for giving him a permission to proceed. He was just seizing the opportunity, just like he did with most things in his life.

Link felt Sidon's arms tighten around him, and simultaneously heard a small sound of sand and pebbles shuffling, which was presumably caused by Sidon's arm fin dragging in the pile of dirt they were laying on.

…The pile of dirt-

Sidon stiffened, and released his hold with an awkward cough.

"Oh, it just occurred to me that we're in the middle of the road where we almost got crushed to death just now", Sidon said, and made a move to sit up. As much as Link didn't want to move, even he realized that staying where they were wasn't an option, so he yielded. "We really shouldn't spend a moment longer than necessary here."

Link stayed quiet, mourning the loss of the beautiful moment they shared, and removed himself from Sidon's person quickly and efficiently. He wiped the worst of the dust off of himself while Sidon stood up and did the same, then they both checked their gear to make sure nothing had gotten lost or broken. Finally they looked at each other silently, not quite sure how to proceed from there. Wherever the metaphorical 'there' was.

Link gave Sidon a tentative smile. 'We should get going.'

Sidon nodded, looking relieved, and turned to walk towards their destination. "Indeed. Let's go."

And so the journey continued with the both of them relatively unhurt, for now at least.


	13. Great Plateau all over again, wasn't it?

Their trek across the big people road was quiet. Link didn't know what Sidon was thinking about, but his own head was filled with hope, want, regret, and guilt. Hope that maybe his feelings would be returned or at least not outright rejected. Or that maybe he would get to continue being affectionate with Sidon without negative consequences or a change in the status quo if he simply kept quiet. Want for Sidon; to get to do what they did just now and maybe even more, as much as he would be allowed to. Regret for the moment being cut short, and for the choices that had led to it in the first place. Guilt for almost getting Sidon killed just because of his impatience and inability to listen to other peoples' advice.

Oh, and a dash of shame for the way he had once more frozen up because of his trauma of Vah Naboris. That was twice since they shrunk down. Had Sidon not gotten him to move, he may have ended up a small stain on the bottom of someone's boot. That was frankly unacceptable for the hero who defeated Calamity Ganon. He was supposed to be tougher than that. Yes, Zelda had repeatedly told him that being traumatized by the things he went through was perfectly normal and didn't make him weak, but in his opinion it still wasn't acceptable to freeze in the middle of action because of it. He could be traumatized on his own time when lives weren't at stake, thank you very much.

He sighed to himself, which apparently caught Sidon's attention.

"For the record, I don't blame you for what happened", he said, and Link looked at him quizzically. "Us getting into trouble for crossing the road at daytime, despite being told not to. You may have been the one to suggest it, but I agreed to it. That makes me just as thoughtless and irresponsible. I should have tried harder to talk us both out of it."

Sidon really was too good for him. Such a pure and innocent soul. Such a responsible prince. What had Link done to deserve his friendship?

Well, other than saved his home and people, and then the whole nation. But those details were irrelevant, nobody owed their friendship to him for those. Maybe just a few favours and possibly some money if they felt like being fair about it, which most didn't; they usually just asked him to do more things for them. So ungrateful.

'Okay, we both get a share of blame for that one', Link signed with a smile, 'But I get the bigger half because at least you gave a token effort to not be completely stupid.'

Sidon laughed heartily, which lifted most of the guilt and shame from Link's shoulders.

They arrived to the edge of the road shortly after that, much to the relief of them both. They didn't relax completely yet, though, as people didn't necessarily stick to the road and as such it wasn't quite safe yet. Scavenri had told them to camp in bushes, between large rocks, or underneath trees; anywhere the big people weren't likely to step into or were unable to do so. There should be rocks on this side of the road, too, they just had to find them.

Sidon, being the taller one, scouted ahead as they kept on walking, and eventually they found the safety of the rocks. There was even a rudimentary camp available, likely due to a lot of Minish using the place when traveling to the Stable Town for a visit to the exotic inn. The camp consisted of a couple of long logs to sit on, a spot for campfire, and even a small teepee-like structure, presumably to keep rain in. It was really rather cozy.

"It's so nice to see people extending each other helpful hands like this", Sidon said with a bright smile as he took a seat on one of the logs, "They could easily just make themselves temporary camps during their travel, but that structure there is a sign of someone going out of their way to create something safe and comfortable for any passing person to use. Such a kind act."

Link could have pointed out that the person building it may have had their own comfort in mind if they traveled this route often, but opted not to; he didn't want to ruin Sidon's joy. Instead he dropped his bag next to the Zora and went to check out the teepee. Turned out there was a bundle of firewood stashed in, which he immediately gathered in his arms and brought to the spot for campfire.

'Light it?' he signed to Sidon, and upon receiving an affirmative he went to explore the nearby area in hopes of gathering replacement wood and to see if there was anything edible around. His search rewarded him with a tree branch that he chopped into firewood with his sword, but he couldn't find any food. He considered one plant that he thought looked like Hyrule herb, just the size of a tree, but he already had a stash of dried herbs to spice his foods with, so it would have been too much trouble for little reward. In the end he returned to the camp with just the firewood.

"Did you find anything?" Sidon asked upon his return.

Link shook his head, before depositing the wood into the teepee. He joined Sidon by the campfire.

'The grass is so tall that it's difficult to see very far', he elaborated now that his hands were free. 'The distances are long, too.'

Sidon nodded thoughtfully and dug out a packet of jerky from his bag. Link followed the example and rummaged his own bag for something to eat. As he looked at an apple, he suddenly realized that he wasn't likely to get more of them anytime soon, considering their current size versus how big apples actually were. Not to even mention them being up impossibly tall trees. It was an alien thought as usually he could have all the apples he could possibly want just by walking into the woods and finding an apple tree to pick them from; they were absurdly common. He hummed to himself, set the apple down next to Sidon, and decided to eat something bought from the Minish instead. He should have bought more. Heck, he should have hunted down one of the bugs they saw earlier and tried if it was edible, and if it tasted as good as the grasshopper legs he bought from Scavenri.

This was Great Plateau all over again, wasn't it? He had to learn how to survive in the wilderness the hard way, again. Except this time he also had to look after Sidon, whose diet was stricter and who had a much more dire need for water than Link did. He really had to step up his game.

Speaking of Sidon.

"Link?" Sidon asked, apparently done eating. Link looked up at him questioningly. Sidon looked a combination of bashful and curious, which was decidedly odd and put Link on edge, not knowing what to expect.

"About earlier", Sidon continued, "I have to say that… you nibbling my neck was surprisingly pleasant. We Zora don't typically do things like that, as our teeth are too sharp to not hurt each other. But you doing that felt very nice."

He paused to consider how to continue, while Link felt like his face caught on fire. He had thought that he would be spared from discussing this, yet now it seemed that Sidon wasn't done with the subject. Admittedly, he was simultaneously very flattered about Sidon's confession.

"You have never done that before with me, despite our steadfast friendship", Sidon said, looking at Link contemplatively and making him feel extremely self-conscious. "Is it a common custom among Hylians? A… display of affection?"

Well… It certainly wasn't uncommon and it was definitely a display of affection, but Link really didn't want to explain the actual nature of the gesture. He may yet have to, sooner or later, but for now he vaguely agreed with Sidon's guess, feeling only slightly guilty.

Sidon stared at him silently for way longer than Link would have liked, then smiled. "Alright. Do you suppose you could do it again tonight, as we settle down to sleep? I rather think the earlier session ended prematurely and I would love to pick up from where it was left."

Link couldn't believe his pointy ears and was completely convinced that the donkey from earlier had, in fact, hit his head after all. He was not this lucky. He simply wasn't. Earlier, when Sidon had allowed his touch, had already been pushing it. This? Simply unreal. A figment of his imagination. Sidon would soon shake him awake and he would find himself in the middle of the road with a concussion.

In the meantime, he nodded vigorously and hoped there wasn't smoke coming out of his ears. His face was a lost cause; it would likely be red for the rest of his life. Regardless, he sent Hylia a silent thank you and mentally promised to leave her a heap of apples at the statue back in Hateno at his earliest convenience once he was big again.

"Excellent!" Sidon said happily, and grabbed his water canteen for a long drink. Link eyed it distractedly, silently thankful that the next town was supposedly only a few hours' walk away so they could restock tomorrow. He might have to invest in an additional canteen and leave something else behind unless another solution presented itself; Sidon was drinking a lot more now that he wasn't spending half of the trip swimming in the rivers, and one canteen wasn't going to last him for more than two days at best. This wouldn't have been an issue when they were big, as Link knew all the water spots by heart. Here? He had no clue.

Link finished eating and dug out his bedroll. He saw Sidon do the same and waited for him to find an acceptable spot before carrying his roll over. Their agreed system was that unless there was a relatively calm body of water for Sidon to sleep in, he would choose a spot by their campfire and then Link would sleep between him and the fire for maximum warmth and to keep the heat of the flames from directly reaching the Zora. After the effects of the night in the hot inn, the arrangement seemed exceedingly reasonable.

Link removed his weapons, the Minish leaf robe and his shoes before sitting down and watching Sidon do much the same. Once Sidon was down to his usual jewelry, he sat down with a thoughtful frown. Link was about to ask him about it when Sidon snapped his fingers with a smile, and then reached under his tail to unclasp and remove the silver neck piece. Link's face reached new levels of red.

"This should make things easier for you, right?" Sidon asked with a bright smile and Link was certain his heart would burst any moment now.

Hylia would receive all the apples. He would bake her an apple pie. With all the apples.

He nodded vigorously, which made Sidon chuckle.

"I should lay down, then? Or is the tackle an inherent part of the process?"

No, but kissing your lips and licking your abs are absolutely necessary parts of the process, is what Link didn't say. Instead he motioned for Sidon to lay down, cool as a cucumber. The kind of cucumber that occasionally self-combusted and was glad of his selective muteness because it meant the possible lacking filter between his brain and mouth typically wasn't an issue for him. Which was cool enough.

Actually, now that he thought about it, it wasn't even necessary for Sidon to lay down. Link could have just sat on his lap- Wait, yes, it was absolutely necessary for Sidon to lay down if Link wanted to survive this. Never mind. This was fine.

Link resolutely pushed any distracting thoughts to the back of his mind and instead eased himself into Sidon's waiting arms, which closed themselves tightly around him. Sidon sighed contentedly and rubbed his crest against Link's hair, which made his heart beat faster.

Yes, he rather believed he belonged right here.

Link glanced up and found Sidon's eyes on him. Naturally, since rubbing his head with the crest on Sidon's forehead obviously meant his beautiful topaz eyes (Link would later vehemently deny that he used gemstones as a descriptor of another person's eyes, like a lovesick teen girl) and perfectly kissable lips would be lowered. Sidon smiled warmly and Link tried not to stare at his lips and get any funny ideas. He managed a smile that he hoped didn't look too nervous or lovelorn, and then Sidon lifted his chin to give Link access to his now very naked neck. Link didn't think he had ever actually seen it not adorned with silver. And it was his to touch.

Something something apples and Hylia.

Link pulled himself higher on Sidon's chest, pressed a tentative kiss on his neck, and got an approving hum in return. Emboldened, he nibbled on the spot, and when Sidon still seemed to be into it and nothing bad happened, he started to give enthusiastic but gentle love bites all over. The neck piece not being there most definitely made the whole process easier and more enjoyable for everyone involved. Sidon's sharp claws dug lightly into Link's undershirt, which Link took as a good sign as he gave a bold lick from the hollow of Sidon's neck to the underside of his chin.

"Did you just lick my neck?" Sidon asked, sounding breathy but distinctly amused. Link couldn't help the euphoric chuckle he gave in return, and he lifted himself to his elbows so he could look at Sidon properly.

Hylia, Sidon was beautiful. His eyes were half-lidded, he had a warm smile, and a few scales at the edges of his jaw were sticking up adorably. It took all of Link's self-control to not dive in for a kiss.

"You look very happy", Sidon said, and one of his hands left Link's back in order to cradle his face. Sidon's thumb traced Link's bottom lip and that was frankly the best thing to have ever happened to Link. "Had I known about this before… We should do this again. Every evening, if you're so inclined."

Link gave a small nod, not wanting to dislodge Sidon's thumb. His brain and heart were mushy enough that he didn't feel the need to over think anything, didn't have it in him to dredge up any guilt for taking advantage of Sidon's lack of knowledge, and didn't bother with considering any consequences any of this might have. What truly mattered was here and now, and with that in mind he buried his face into Sidon's neck happily, and snuggled close for the rest of the night. Sidon simply held him tightly in return.


	14. What progress?

Link woke up to his best friend of a mattress moving and muttering apologies for disturbing his rest. He groaned and pressed his face closer to the scaly skin. He didn't want apologies, or to get up, he wanted to lay on Sidon forever, thank you very much. In his drowsy state he even said as much, but most of it became indecipherable, seeing how it was sleepily mumbled against the crook of Sidon's neck.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't quite catch that", Sidon said, sounding way more sorry about it than the situation warranted. "Could you repeat it? I'd be aghast to miss any of your beautiful words."

That certainly woke Link up, if only to feel guilty about not vocalizing to Sidon more often. If his words were being described as beautiful, it was a sign that Sidon heard his voice way too seldom and as such managed to glorify it in its absence. His voice was rough and sometimes gave out mid-sentence and was definitely not beautiful at all. Now that Link thought about it, perhaps he ought to speak out loud to Sidon during this trip, seeing how they were alone in the middle of nowhere for the most part. No chance of someone overhearing him and making him anxious for weeks. He could probably do it.

"I said-" he croaked, then cleared his throat and started over while also turning his head so that his face was no longer smooshed against Sidon's neck and he could sort of see him, too. "I said that you're comfy and I don't want your apologies."

Well, it wasn't exactly what he said, but close enough.

Sidon looked ridiculously happy and gave Link's hair a thorough nuzzling. "Thank you! You make a superb blanket, yourself. Alas, I do still need to get up. I'm parched, and I noticed that there's morning dew on the nearby leaves of grass that I could help myself to."

Two things. A superb blanket, really? Link would bet good rupee on Sidon being mostly uncomfortable with Link sleeping on him, since usually the Zora would sleep while being submerged in water and definitely not weighed down by anything, and Link's body temperature was probably a bit much as well. Secondly, morning dew. Link could have slapped himself for not thinking of that. Granted, as a big person morning dew wasn't something he used as a resource, so it was maybe understandable that he hadn't considered it now.

Actually, third thing, how long had Sidon been up, holding Link and admiring the morning dew? The thought simultaneously made Link self-conscious and turned his stomach into butterflies.

He felt Sidon shift underneath him and finally took that as his cue to sit up, straddling Sidon's stomach, and stretched his arms above his head. He felt Sidon's eyes on him the whole time, and when he looked down he saw that the scales just under his friend's jaw were sticking up and his eyes were glued to… oh, his shirt was bunched up and exposing his stomach a little. Link coughed awkwardly and smoothed the shirt down before climbing off of Sidon, blushing considerably. Now, he didn't mind Sidon looking, quite the opposite in fact, especially if he let himself imagine his own preferred reasons for it, but there was a time and a place for everything and this was probably neither? Or maybe he was just an awkward young man with a huge crush and didn't know how to deal.

Sidon sat up and stretched as well, then massaged the back of his neck with one hand, a grimace on his face. "Ugh, I believe I slept on a rather awkward position."

Link's hands immediately started a string of apologies, before Sidon interrupted him.

"It's not your fault", he said with a fond smile, "At least, not completely. I do admit it was your presence that made me unconsciously stay very still and not relax completely, but that's on me. Now that I could see you sleeping like a log, I think I can be more at ease tonight."

...Tonight? Was Sidon expecting them to sleep like that tonight as well? Possibly every night from now on? Link's mind felt completely blank for a moment, just not processing information properly.

'Tonight?' his hands asked without much conscious effort on his part.

"Yes, why- Do you not want to?" Sidon asked, looking worried. He stood up, towering over Link once more.

'No! I mean yes!' Link signed, then abruptly remembered his earlier thought about speaking more to Sidon, and decided to continue with spoken words. "I want to. I just… didn't expect that."

Sidon grinned at him, all worries melting away. "Good. It wouldn't do to lose the progress made last night."

Wait, what?

"What progress?" he asked, but Sidon simply beamed at him like an infuriatingly mysterious hot shark jerk he was.

"We'll find out about the particulars of that in due time, my friend", he said, which wasn't any less cryptic or clear anything out. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll help myself to the water Hylia has seen fit to bestow upon us."

Link screamed internally.

ooooo

Sidon looked healthy today, compared to yesterday. Despite another night of less than stellar rest, he seemed chipper and didn't look particularly tired. His scales gleamed after what amounted to a nice shower under the dewy leaves of grass, and Link had to assume that getting fish for every meal was doing Sidon wonders, despite it not being fresh or particularly tasty. All in all, Link felt a lot less worried about this trip now, at least for the time being.

As such, he could dwell on Sidon's mysterious words without distractions as they walked. Progress, and finding particulars out later, what was that supposed to mean? Link knew what he hoped it to mean, and that was their relationship growing closer without him having to blatantly put himself out there, but it was wishful thinking to take that to be Sidon's view, too. Maybe it had to do with Link speaking? Perhaps Sidon figured that the more comfortable and happy Link was, the more likely he was to speak out loud? He wouldn't be half wrong. If that was what Sidon thought, then it certainly added up that he would want to… snuggle each night, since it obviously made Link happy.

Link sighed quietly, slightly disappointed at finding out a reasonable explanation so quickly, and thus having to discard the wistful alternative. But he was still more than happy with the thought of nightly cuddling. Perhaps he, too, could count that as progress on his chosen avenue.

"Link", Sidon suddenly said with a hushed voice, instantly making Link wary.

Link looked forward, then upon finding nothing of note looked at Sidon. Sidon was looking to their left, towards the tall grass, and then glanced at Link with an excited smile. It put Link's mind back at ease.

"A grasshopper", Sidon said quietly, and looked towards the grass again, now unhooking his Sheikah Slate from his belt and preparing the camera rune.

Link got excited as well, though for different reasons. He had lamented not hunting the other bugs down yesterday, so now that he was presented with this change he was definitely going to grab it with both hands. He wanted to eat the thing. He already knew the legs to be delicious, so maybe some other parts would be as well. If not, then at least he would still get the legs.

He waited with Sidon until they saw it jump again, making Link aware of its whereabouts. Sidon took a picture, and Link touched his arm to catch his attention.

'I'll hunt it', he signed enthusiastically, and while Sidon looked surprised, he neither did or said anything to stop him. Link took that as a permission, even if he didn't really need one.

Link slowly and quietly approached the critter, which was now making cheerful music by rubbing its legs against its wings. Link knew that to mean his approach went unnoticed and the hopper was off-guard for now. Once he was within shooting distance, he took out his bow and nocked an arrow on it. Would shooting at its head work, like it did with everything else? It was a reasonable approach, so he he might as well try it. He aimed… and then paused.

Yes, he wanted to eat it. But another thought entered his head as he watched the powerful legs and its quadruped stance. The grasshopper was about the size of a pony, relatively speaking. Could he ride it? He had ridden all the different horses he had come across, he had given a go to deer and bears, he had calmed the Lord of the Mountain, he had mounted lynels, he had even gotten a ride from Sidon and Teba. Why wouldn't he add a grasshopper to that list now that he was small enough for it?

He put his arrow and bow away and went directly behind the grasshopper to get closer without it noticing him. It stopped making sound at one point, and Link stayed completely still until it resumed. At least this thing was alone and as such didn't have a herd to warn it of Link's approach; it made this a lot easier than sneaking on horses typically was.

Finally he was close enough to make a mad jump and lock his arms around what passed for the critter's neck, and his legs around its body and wings. Immediately after, the grasshopper jumped forward in fright before Link had any time to feel smug and accomplished about his catch.

…Link had not accounted for how high the thing could jump, even without the use of its wings. Because it was damn high.

He heard Sidon shout something, probably his name, but all he could do was hold on tightly so he wouldn't drop and die. Now, the height was nowhere near Vah Medoh, but it was still considerable and likely fatal.

The grasshopper landed on a leaf and immediately jumped again. Link's heart hammered in his chest and he squeezed tighter. However, scary as it was, the fluttery sensation in his stomach, the air on his face, and the threat of plunging into his death, not even from Vah Medoh but from riding a damn grasshopper, made him feel ridiculously exhilarated and before he even knew what was happening, he was laughing like a madman.

He closed his eyes, held on to his dear life, and laughed like this was the best ride he had ever experienced.

He had no idea how long this went on, other than the knowledge that his throat and stomach hurt from laughing and holding on was getting very difficult, but when he finally stopped being hysterical he heard Sidon shouting.

"-n't move and brace yourself!"

Wait, what?

He instinctively took a better grip again and opened his eyes in an attempt to get a clue on what Sidon was up to, but the world was an uncontrollable and fast moving blur. The grasshopper landed once more, and for a second Link could see the red spot that was Sidon, who was holding something that glittered in the sun.

There was a whistling sound, a crunch right ahead of him, the grasshopper convulsed, and then they were dropping heavily instead of leaping back into the air. Link had the presence of mind to tuck his head flush against the grasshopper before his back was slapped repeatedly by leaves of grass as he fell past, and finally he landed painfully on the ground with the grasshopper carcass. His left leg and arm stung from taking the brunt of the hit from the landing, but at least he was alive and no longer bouncing around.

"Are you alright?" he heard, along with frantic footsteps.

He groaned and attempted to push the grasshopper's carcass away, but didn't get very far with that before Sidon was already helping him with it and peering at him worriedly. Link gave him a hesitant thumbs up, and slowly sat up. Moving hurt in a lot of different places, but he was reasonably sure nothing was broken. Jarred and banged up, sure, but not broken.

Sidon kneeled down next to him, hands hovering around like he wanted to do something but didn't know what that something should be.

"Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"

Link shook his head, which made him feel slightly faint. His throat felt raw after the forceful laughter, so signing was his only option.

'Nothing broken. Hurts a bit, but I'll be fine. Could use water.'

Sidon produced his water skin almost instantly, and Link gratefully took a drink. It seemed Sidon had topped it off with the morning dew, as the water tasted pleasantly leafy and felt particularly soothing in his throat.

'Thank you', Link signed after handing the water back.

Sidon nodded, and they stayed in silence for a bit, letting their heart rates calm, and in Link's case waiting until he hurt a little less. Then Sidon frowned at him.

"That was possibly the most moronic thing I've ever witnessed someone do."


	15. Did you even consider the consequences?

Link looked up to Sidon's angry face, feeling both guilty and instantly defensive despite knowing full well the grasshopper ride had been a mistake. He kind of shrugged sheepishly but didn't say anything to defend himself with or to apologize. He was allowed to be reckless if he wanted to; Sidon wasn't in any position to tell him what to do.

Sidon's eyes narrowed, and for a brief flash Link could see Mipha with the exact same expression. Huh, apparently he had pissed off her too, at some point in the past. Too bad the memory didn't elaborate on itself, although he supposed being able to focus on the here and now was probably for the best.

"Did you even stop to consider the consequences of your actions back there?" Sidon asked, voice calm and steady despite his obvious anger. It was kind of impressive. "You have seen grasshoppers before and you should know how high they can jump. And how fast they are. We were lucky that this one was content to hop in circles so I had the opportunity to shoot it, because if it had hopped away in one direction there would have been no way I would have been able to catch up to it. You would have been long gone."

Oh. Right, Link had no idea how long he had been holding onto the rapidly moving grasshopper. Even one leap was enough to cover a distance that would take them close to ten minutes to cross on foot. In a few jumps he would have been thoroughly separated from Sidon who – Link remembered now that he considered the bigger picture – didn't have a map on him, since only Link's slate had been to the local tower to get one and he was also the one who carried the Minish maps in his bag.

Needless to say, his idea was starting to look truly moronic in hindsight, just like Sidon said. That thought was quickly chipping away at his defensiveness and boosting the guilt.

"Please, Link", Sidon said, now looking deflated instead of angry. That was actually worse. "Don't do that again. I know you're amazing and you could have gotten yourself out of the pinch eventually, but I can't stand the thought of losing you. Yesterday, when you froze…"

Sidon didn't finish the sentence, but he didn't have to: yesterday, when Link froze in the middle of the road right when the big person was about to walk over them and potentially crush them. They hadn't talked about it and it clearly troubled Sidon. They should talk about it. Soon.

The guilt intensified. Maybe, just maybe, he should admit to having been wrong here. Or at least having been inconsiderate.

Link got up with a grunt and promptly wrapped his arms around the kneeling Zora.

"I'm sorry", he rasped, his throat really not approving of the idea of talking right after all that screaming laughter. Link ignored the discomfort. "I was stupid."

Sidon returned the embrace as soon as he got his arms un-trapped from Link's hold.

"You were", he agreed, and Link chuckled despite himself. "But I suppose… I should be honest with you, lest I want to be a big hypocrite. Do you remember the giant hearty bass from the Pico Pond?"

Link wondered about the change of subject, but nodded. The fish, apparently a hearty bass, that had cornered Sidon on their first day of being shrunk. ...Had they truly only been mini for about four days? It felt like a lifetime.

"The truth is, I noticed it first and I could have swam away", Sidon admitted with a sheepish laugh, "but I decided to attack it despite its size. I thought that I could take it on, that it couldn't be worse than the giant Octorok that I fought decades ago. I thought of the feast we could have, and..."

Sidon coughed awkwardly, and removed one hand to smooth the scales on the side of his neck. "I thought you would be impressed."

Link stared at Sidon. He… He got into that pinch because of recklessness? Because he wanted to impress Link? As in, not accidentally or by being ambushed? Mind, Sidon's reasonings were still better than Link's "because I wanted to ride it", but it was still choosing to engage in perfectly avoidable danger instead walking – or swimming – away from it like a sensible person.

Link let go of Sidon in order to free his hands for signing.

'We're both idiots, then.'

Sidon chuckled, and stood up. Then he held out a hand to Link.

"Not the word choice I'd go for, but accurate enough", he said, and pulled Link up. He looked at the dead grasshopper. "At least you managed to get a meal out of your reckless little adventure, unlike me. But… shall we promise to not repeat either of our excursions?"

Link looked at the carcass, noting that the arrow had pierced right through the eye; Sidon was an excellent shot. Then he looked at the Zora in question, pondering the wisdom of promising such a thing, knowing there was no way he could keep the promise for long. Well, he would not be riding more grasshoppers anytime soon, but he knew promising only that would be obeying the letter of the law but not the spirit of it.

He sighed, and decided to cave in. Or do a compromise anyway.

'I promise to at least try to keep any unnecessary recklessness at bay, and to discuss any actions with you whenever possible', he signed carefully, and received a beaming grin from Sidon.

"You'd make a wonderful diplomat with some proper training, my friend", he said, before promising the same. Oddly, Link felt much more at ease afterwards. Almost like Sidon was already safer from the promise alone. He wondered if Sidon felt the same.

'Don't suggest that to Zelda. I don't want to be saddled down with a job like that', Link answered, half joking and half deadly serious.

Sidon just laughed, which wasn't necessarily reassuring.

ooooo

Turned out that grasshoppers consisted mostly of chitin and odd internal organs, so the back legs were the only edible part when Link was Minish size. At least they were delicious when roasted, so he was satisfied with the catch anyway. He wondered if they would taste as good when he was big again, or if the bite was too small to count for anything. He would have to give it a try.

They continued their trip after carefully comparing the map they got from Scavenri to the one on Link's slate and deciding on their direction. They should arrive to the next Minish town in a few hours if they kept a brisk pace and stayed out of mischief. Scavenri had said the town would be a lot smaller than Stable Town, but they could at least replenish their supplies there and ask for directions or advice, if necessary.

It took Link a while to realize that Sidon was being unusually quiet. Not that he was always continuously chatty when they walked, but usually he pointed out a sight or two and occasionally talked about any random thought he decided to be worth Link's time. Now, though, he had been silent since they left the camp. It didn't typically take him this long to strike up a conversation, so it was suspicious and worrying.

Link discreetly looked at Sidon from the corner of his eye. He seemed troubled and deep in thought, but apparently he was disinclined to talk about his thoughts since he hadn't said something by now.

Link had a good idea what Sidon's quiet thoughtfulness was about, so he sighed and braced himself for a difficult conversation. He cleared his throat to get Sidon's attention, which worked like a charm, as per usual.

"Yes, Link?"

Link brought his hands up to sign, remembered he was supposed to vocalize and hesitated, but in the end decided that this was going to be tough enough as it was.

'I need to talk to you about Vah Naboris', he signed, and saw Sidon immediately take a very serious and attentive posture. It would seem he had guessed correctly, which was half relieving and half... uh... he really hated talking about the subject.

'I froze earlier because of a flashback', he signed, and looked towards their route. He supposed he had to start from the basics. 'Vah Naboris is the Divine Beast of the Gerudo, it's a giant quadruped creature that releases bolts of lightning with deadly accuracy. The Gerudo have an ancient heirloom that's sole purpose is to protect them from that lightning, should they need such protection. Without it, or outside of its protective circle, you have no way to avoid the lightning if Naboris decides to aim at you.'

He glanced at Sidon, whose mouth was set in a firm line and his tail was twitching anxiously. Clearly Vah Naboris was a terrifying concept to a Zora, who were particularly weak to electricity. And that was just the beginning.

'That heirloom, the Thunder Helm, was worn by Chief Riju, who accompanied me in a similar manner as you did when we took down Vah Ruta', Link continued, taking Sidon's silence as his cue to keep going. 'Except she did not carry me, like you did. We both took separate sand seals to travel with. ...You know what seals are, right? These ones swim in the sand and you attach a leash on them and let them pull you on a shield.'

Sidon looked baffled by the thought, but nodded anyway, likely deciding to not ask any questions to make this easier for Link. Or maybe he just wanted to hear the rest more than he needed extra details.

Link was slightly disappointed at the missed chance to digress and avoid the rest of the talk for a little longer. He took a deep breath and released it to relax his rapidly tightening shoulder muscles.

'Traveling with different seals meant that Riju was safe at all times, both by keeping her distance from Naboris and by being protected from the lightning, but I could get separated from her and enter the danger zone as needed. I just had to make sure to return to the circle before a lightning could strike', he signed and shuddered, fingers starting to tremble lightly. He soldiered on. 'I needed to shoot Naboris' feet to stop it, similarly to the spots I needed to shoot to shut down Ruta. Only Naboris was stomping around instead of staying still like Ruta had been. It was hard to aim an arrow at a moving target while moving and trying to steer the seal, myself. I had to weave between the legs to even be close enough to hit them as every step it took covered considerable distance, every step shook the ground and the booming noise was deafening and if my seal took the wrong turn while I aimed it could get me under one of the massive descending feet, and there was sand whipping into my eyes and limiting the visibility while there were protruding rocks all over the place, and I was too hot from the sun and it was hard to breathe in the sandstorm, it shot lightning-'

Suddenly Sidon's hand landed on his shoulder and effectively stopped him. Link jerked his signing to a halt and looked at his friend with wide eyes. Sidon kneeled before him and his other hand landed on Link's free shoulder.

"Link. Deep breaths", Sidon said, voice wavering oddly.

Only then Link realized that he was breathing very shallow and very rapidly, but barely getting any air. He took in a deep, shuddering breath, and released it slowly. His head felt light. His heart was drumming. He felt like he might collapse if Sidon removed his hands. He only saw Sidon but nothing around the both of them, his eyes hyper focused on the only thing that mattered. His ears were buzzing. He kept on breathing as slowly as he could because Sidon told him to.

Sidon kept him still until Link felt relatively normal again. He had no idea how much time had passed.

"Are you alright?" Sidon asked, "I'm sorry I inadvertently reduced you to such a state. I was unable to understand the last half as your fingers shook too much, but that's alright, I got the gist of it. You don't need to strain yourself for my sake."

Link lowered his gaze and shook his head. He still felt a bit disconnected from… well, everything, but he was damn well not going to give up at this point. Not after he had already suffered through the attack – as Zelda had called it – and as such it couldn't get much worse. He just needed to get a grip and tough the rest of it out.

'Which part did you manage to understand before you no longer could?' he asked, moving his fingers very carefully to minimize the shakiness.

Sidon was quiet for a moment and Link refused to consider the possible reasons for it.

"Alright", Sidon said gently, sounding reluctant but letting Link make the call regardless. "Sand seal possibly leading you... under the massive feet…"

Good, that was further along than Link had anticipated. He could work with this. Not much to go. He could do this.

He drew strength from Sidon's hold on him and got back to his tale, doing his best to not immerse himself in it this time.

'It was tough to see much because of the sandstorm Naboris whipped up, and it was hard to breathe', he summarized detachedly, 'And of course the lightning. I got hit once but Riju showed up right after and negated the electricity before it could kill me. I… I had topaz earrings, which I think helped. I think she also stopped me from being crushed, but that part is fuzzy so I'm not sure. We had to catch up to Naboris all over again. That was the closest call I've had with any of the Divine Beasts.'

He breathed deeply a couple of times, just to make sure he was still doing it correctly.

'With Ruta I felt no fear', he signed with a small smile, 'It was the first one and I felt invincible with you by my side. You wouldn't let me drown, so there was little to fear. Those ice blocks and balls weren't half as intimidating as the Lynel had been.'

He felt Sidon's hold tighten for a moment, but Sidon kept quiet, listening despite probably having a lot to say. Link was thankful.

'With Medoh I felt almost as secure. I had my paraglider and Teba was there to catch me if I were to fall, not to mention all the other Rito nearby, and there was mostly water underneath so I felt my chances at surviving a fall were decent. Teba was acting as decoy and thus was the one who had to dodge the shots anyway, so I had an easy time taking down Medoh's defenses. Rudania was scary because if I were to drop in the lava I would be dead in an instant, but at that point it was already static so I only had to be wary of my own clumsiness. I had to shoot it from afar and avoid falling rocks to stop it, but that was pretty easy and not that dangerous, all things considered. Naboris was the only one that caused me to actively fear for my life.'

Link took a fortifying breath, glad that the tale was more of less over now.

'The big person's approach vividly reminded me of Naboris. It sometimes happens with Hinoxes, too, but I have always been able to shake it off on my own before it could become a problem. I don't know why I couldn't do it yesterday.'

He let his hands drop as a sign that he was done, and he was immediately squeezed against Sidon's chest.

"I had no idea you had it so hard even now", Sidon said quietly, "It's perfectly normal and doesn't make me think less of you. Maybe the reason why that big person affected you more is because you're used to Hinoxes and they aren't big enough to adequately compare to a Divine Beast? Whatever the case, I promise to come to your aid much sooner, should need arise again. Thank you for telling me, I was very worried about you."

Link felt guilty for having worried Sidon, and slightly ashamed of the thought of possibly needing Sidon's help for this in the future, but ultimately he leaned into his best friend's hold gratefully.

Together they would get through this. All of this.


	16. Who will sell us supplies?

Link and Sidon arrived to the small Minish town roughly as scheduled. Once more Sidon spotted it first, even though this town was well hidden between flowers and large leaves. To be fair, Link was preoccupied by the enormous tree the town was under; it was taller than any mountain he had ever climbed, and the trunk was wide enough to probably take hours to go around. They hadn't quite reached the actual forest yet, so they hadn't walked directly by any trees on their way here, sparse as they were. Seeing one this close on their current size was mind blowing.

The town itself was a lot more colourful than the one next to the stable, as most buildings were absolutely coated with flower petals of varying colours. The Minish, too, favoured flower clothes over the leafwear of the previous town. Link guessed it had to do with the lack of big people close-by; no need be wary of attracting too much attention with extra colours here.

This time their introduction to the locals was easier thanks to them knowing the language and possibly because of the Minish clothing they wore that indicated good relations with the Minish. Not that Sidon's appearance didn't scare a bunch of the people off regardless, which Link found hilarious but was also sad for Sidon who just wanted to be everyone's friend.

As a side note, nobody understood Link's signing. It was really disheartening, but he refused to give up hope: there was still the capital city, surely someone understood him there.

"Where can we find someone who will sell us supplies?" Sidon asked one of the Minish who hadn't ran away. Link tried to spot any indicators to tell him whether this one was a man or a woman, but failed to notice any telling features. Sidon likely knew regardless.

"Supplies? Uh, food, then?" the Minish asked and scratched their ear in what was probably contemplation. "The traveling merchant is not here today, but I suppose you could buy some directly from the gatherers, their headquarters is that big building there. Oh! Then there's Sweeteri, she makes honey candy. She lives in the mostly yellow house over the-"

Link grabbed Sidon's arm and started pulling him to the direction of the sweets shop.

"Link! That's just-" Sidon started, then sighed and presumably turned to the Minish they were leaving behind, judging from the way his voice sounded more distant. Link didn't turn to confirm that, busy dragging Sidon towards their new destination. "Thank you! You were most helpful!"

The resistance lessened as Sidon started following Link voluntarily.

"Link, that was very rude of you", Sidon admonished.

'Don't care. Candy', Link signed, already able to smell the sweet honey in the air as they neared the house. Who had time for manners when there were sweets to be had?

"You're impossible."

It didn't take them long to reach the door, and Sidon hurried ahead to knock before Link could simply barge in. Link was pretty sure one was allowed to enter shops at their leisure, so he rolled his eyes and was about to pull on the handle when the door was opened from the inside.

The Minish looked exactly the same as everyone they had met so far. The scent of honey grew stronger, though, so Link didn't lament his inability to tell the Minish apart too much. He was much too busy drooling.

"Hello", the Minish said, looking slightly puzzled but polite anyway. "I haven't seen you or even your kind before. Did you move into this town? Oh, or are you customers?"

"Good afternoon", Sidon replied with a dazzling smile. "Are you Sweeteri? We're simply visiting your lovely village and heard of a sweets shop. Would this be it?"

The Minish's expression brightened and she opened the door wide.

"Yes, I am Sweeteri", she said and beckoned them in. Link didn't need to be asked twice. "Welcome to my home and shop. I'll get the goods in a moment, please take a seat at the table."

The house looked much the same as Slateri's had been, except more lived-in. The furniture was worn and comfortable, and there were small flowers everywhere. Link had never even seen that kind of flowers before, likely because they were too small to notice when you were big and not specifically looking for them. The two of them sat down and waited while Sweeteri bustled into another room, Link excitedly and Sidon curiously.

"I've never been to a shop that is inside one's actual home", Sidon said in a low voice, probably afraid of being offensive. "Typically shop owners live upstairs or in the back, while the shop is set up in the first room and always ready for customers. This is fascinating. Is it a common custom among other races?"

Link shook his head, then elaborated with his hands, 'I have seen this type of shop before, but it's not common. I think it's beginners that work like this and eventually set up a proper shop when they have enough customers.'

Sidon nodded, eyes filled with wonder. It showed that he hadn't been able or allowed to travel very far from his home before. Link would bet that King Dorephan had counted on this adventure being an educating experience for the prince, and that had played a large part in why he had agreed to let this happen. Even if they were currently in a deep mess, at least something was going as planned.

Sweeteri appeared at that point, carrying a big woven basket with her. It appeared to be made of grass, as opposed to straw or wicker, but otherwise looked the same as any big people baskets. Well, the weaving looked slightly different from the technique Link knew, but then again so did the Zora, Rito, and Gerudo kind.

"Here we are!" she said cheerfully, set the basket down, and started to unload it. She pulled out a pouch of what were plain old hard honey candies that even Link knew how to make, another of honey taffy, then more colourful sweets that were likely candied berries or fruits, or bits of them anyway considering their size, honeyed nuts and seeds, and finally lollipops that looked delightfully chewy.

Link's mouth watered.

'How much for all of them?' he asked, but Sidon shook his head.

"We can't carry all of them if we want to fit in some actual food as well", he said firmly.

Link pouted, but had to concede the point. He gingerly picked up a reddish candy and peered at it closely, as if he could guess what it was just from looking at it.

"That was speech?" Sweeteri asked, and then shook her head. "I've never seen anything like that. Are you unable to talk? Oh! Would you like to know what each candy contains?"

Link nodded eagerly, ignoring the question of his speaking ability completely. Sweeteri rattled off her selection, each one sounding more delicious than last. Turned out some of the colourful candies contained flower petals rather than curiously purple or blue berries, and Link was all for trying those out. The taffy came in different flavours as well. All in all, everything sounded good and there were way too many flavours to choose just a few from. Link didn't want to leave anything un-tasted and that was making the decision on what to get and what to not get impossibly hard.

"Could we possibly have a selection of all of them?" Sidon asked finally, apparently just as indecisive as Link, but with an actual plan to work around it. "Two of each?"

'Let's get a few of the Silent Princesses in a separate bag', Link added, 'As a souvenir to Zelda.'

"Oh, good idea! Should I pick something for my father? Hmm…"

Their final candy bag was larger than advisable, but neither of them backed down when the time came to pay for it. They would just have to eat a bunch to make room for real food. Link was all for that.

As they were about to leave, Link thought of something. He stopped and poked at Sidon's arm to get his attention away from the candy bag.

'Ask her how she has honey', he signed, then elaborated as Sidon looked puzzled. 'Bees are huge. Beehives are high up.'

Sidon's eyes widened and he instantly whirled around to look at Sweeteri, who was packing the remaining candy back into the basket.

"Excuse me? How did you come to acquire honey? My friend here had a very good point about bees being… rather much to handle due to their size."

Sweeteri blinked a few times, taken aback, before collecting herself and smiling. "I simply buy it from Hiveri. He lives in the next town north of here and is the one with the bee farm. It's quite the long trip to make to get the honey, but I wouldn't want to live that close to that nasty mud lake, so needs must. You should ask him if you're headed that way."

That was a lot less information than Link would have wanted, but she likely didn't know any more than they did.

"Oh, wait", Sweeteri suddenly said, just as they were trying to leave again. She stuck a hand into her pocket and pulled something out. She held it out for them to see: turned out it was two things, and they were some kind of stone coins, or halves of them anyway, one green and one red. The way they had been halved reminded Link of puzzle pieces, what with one of them having a deliberate looking triangular edge but the other having a square hole in the center of the halved part. They definitely looked like they should be united with a matching part, just like puzzle pieces. Sweeteri handed the green one to Link and the red one to Sidon. Link noted that his coin glowed for a second when he first touched it. He didn't know if Sidon's had done the same, since he only had eyes for his own piece for the crucial first seconds.

"Those are kinstones", she explained cheerfully, "If you can find the other half and merge them together, something good will happen."

Link and Sidon examined the coins, kinstones, curiously.

"What kind of good?" Sidon asked, and Link nodded.

Sweeteri shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't merged any. I got a bunch of them from Hiveri to share with my customers, and he got them from Traveri, who brought them from the capital. He said they're some kind of an old tradition that is being brought back, and that was enough for me."

Sweeteri was apparently very useless when it came to getting information. Was she truly so uncaring? Had she no curiosity? Link didn't understand her at all.

"I see", Sidon said thoughtfully, "To find the other half, must we ask around?"

"I would imagine so. They're given to people, not left lying around", she answered, "Though you don't have to bother with asking anyone in this town. The ones I gave you don't have their pairs here, I checked when I got them. It's why I gave them to you, since you're going to continue your journey and might meet the people with the other halves on your way. Good luck with that."

Link and Sidon left shortly after that, minds preoccupied. They walked in the direction of the gatherers' headquarters until Link noticed a bench and motioned for them to go take a seat. He took the candy bag that Sidon had kept on holding and opened it. He fished out two red candies that looked the same to him and handed one to Sidon, before popping the other into his own mouth. It was sweet and just melted on his tongue, a hint of strawberry coming on as soon as the outer layer of honey gave way to the prize in the middle. He would definitely visit that shop again someday.

"This is delightful, much sweeter than the fleet lotus sap we use at home", Sidon said with a satisfied hum. Link didn't think he had ever tried this fleet lotus sap, an oversight he would have to correct the first opportunity he got, so he just nodded.

"What do you think of the kinstones?" Sidon asked after they had enjoyed a couple of more sweets. "I think they sound marvelous, but at the same time I'm having doubts about them working as advertised. What kind of good things could happen from simply putting two halves of a coin together? Do you suppose they're blessed?"

Link nodded before signing his thoughts. 'Mine glowed when I touched it. Definitely blessed. I believe that they will do something.'

Sidon's eyes widened and he dug out his kinstone curiously. It glowed briefly, but instead of looking convinced Sidon just kept looking at it expectantly.

"Mine didn't glow", he said, "Maybe it won't work?"

Link was confused. Had Sidon not seen the glow? Why?

'It glowed just now', he signed with a puzzled frown, 'Didn't you see it?'

Sidon's eyes widened and he looked at the kinstone again with squinted eyes. "It did? Are you certain? I didn't see anything."

Apparently Sidon really couldn't see it. But if he couldn't, then why could Link? Was it the norm to see it or not to see it? Link had half a mind to go back to Sweeteri and ask her, but then he realized that she probably wouldn't know, since she cared so little about details.

'We could ask other Minish when we talk to them?' he suggested. 'Whether they can see the glow or not.'

Sidon nodded with a determined look, then pocketed the curious item again.

Their pile of small side quests was growing, and the thought brought a smile to Link's face.

It was just like his previous grand adventure. He may be small now, and that was new, but at least some things stayed the same.


	17. You're not Vaatians, are you?

Link and Sidon bought supplies – mainly seeds, nuts, and dried berries – from the local gatherers and learned nothing about the kinstones from them; apparently none of them possessed any yet. Perhaps they were an even newer thing than they had realized. Well, at least they managed to advertise Sweeteri's products and bring her more customers, judging from the excited buzz they left among the gatherers in their wake.

They continued their journey shortly after, as they wanted to make it to a known resting spot before nightfall. It was always safer to stay the night in places like that rather than in a random spot in the middle of nowhere. Besides, the gatherers told them that a Minish called Bigeri lived there and sold Hylian food to lucky travelers. Sidon immediately got hopeful about buying fresher fish, which Link wasn't quite so optimistic about. He knew the spot from his previous travels – it was that charred remains of a house by the mud lake – and yes, it had a cooking pot for big people so it was entirely possible to find scraps of food there, but what were the chances of a traveler having been there recently enough for fresh fish to be a thing? Still, he let Sidon hope and kept his fingers crossed.

At first their path was all grass and mulch like before, but slowly it got more barren, turning into rocks and soon ash. It was oddly disconcerting; as a big person the house remains were located on a small patch of rock and the ground seemed largely fine, but in their mini state the whole place was big and eerie and absolutely lifeless. There were splotches of ash in every nook and cranny, preventing plant-life from emerging. Link was by no means a gardener, but even he knew that ash was good in small amounts but destructive when piled high. It would take a long time for the rain to wash all of it out so something could grow there. He didn't think that particular house had been burned down by the Guardians, considering how the destruction still lingered. No, he thought the Bokoblins that had lived by the mud lake had been the more likely suspects. He had personally killed them half a dozen times when the Blood Moon had still been a thing, but the final blow that actually stuck had been delivered by the new Royal Guards. Good riddance.

In any case, at least they knew they were in the right place because of all the ash. Now they just needed to find the Minish resting spot and Bigeri.

Their travel got more difficult when they reached what was likely the front of the big person resting spot, based on the enormous craters that Link recognized as boot prints all over the place. He was reminded of the Gisa Crater, which he used to visit after each Blood Moon to take on the Talus and get some nice gemstones. That had been one of the very few positive things of the Ganon-caused phenomenon. In either case, they could either go around them, which took time, or hop down one edge and climb up the other, which took effort. After a short discussion they decided on alternating between the two.

"The gatherers said that the resting spot is at one of the charred pillars. Do you reckon we're close?" Sidon asked after they climbed up from yet another crater.

Link caught his breath and squinted at their surroundings. He was pretty sure that big thing was the cooking pot, currently unlit, which meant that the pillar in question had to be…

'It's probably that', he signed, and pointed at a tall thin object in the distance. It was getting dark, so seeing anything clearly was becoming difficult. He was still reasonably sure it couldn't be a tree, so they headed that way and soon saw curious glowing spots at the base of the pillar. Neither of them had any clue what they could be, but they agreed that they were probably there to guide Minish travelers in the darkness.

It took a little longer yet, but they eventually saw the charred pillar and realized that it wasn't actually charred at the base. Or rather, new planks had been hammered to each side of it, probably as a means to make it sturdier. The lights turned out to be lanterns attached to the tops of the planks. The lights inside didn't flicker like flames, so Link assumed the lanterns to be filled with Chuchu jelly, like the ones in Stable Village. They approached the place and discovered a wooden door at one side of the pillar. Had Bigeri, or whoever made this, carved the inside of the pillar empty? Link worried about the stability of the structure, but supposed that the Minish were probably aware of how unwise the whole thing was or knew something he didn't.

Sidon knocked eagerly. They heard shuffling inside, then the door was opened by a smiling Minish. They took one look at Link, looked puzzled, then looked up at Sidon… and shut the door in their faces with a squeak.

'This again', Link signed exasperatedly, while Sidon simply looked resigned and knocked again.

"Don't be afraid. I'm a friendly traveler", he said, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

'Don't give him a toothy smile anytime soon', Link cautioned, half joking but also half serious. Sidon nodded solemnly.

The door was cracked open a little, and the Minish peered out suspiciously. "What are you? Both of you? You're not Vaatians, are you?"

Link and Sidon looked at each other, completely confused. That was a new term.

"Er, no, we're not", Sidon answered slowly, then gave a friendly smile. Closed lipped one. "I'm Sidon of the Zora. This is Link of the Hylians. Long story short, we're usually a lot bigger but we're currently stuck at this size, and mean you Minish no harm. We simply wish to stay the night in the shelter we've been told about. Would this be it?"

The Minish kept staring at them warily from the cracked door for a moment longer, then nodded and opened the door further. Link quietly released the breath he had been holding.

"I'm Bigeri", the Minish said and stepped to the side so they could enter, "This is my home that doubles as a shelter that doubles as my shop. Welcome."

The house was indeed carved into the pillar, and generously at that; the first room alone was spacey enough to make Link double check the walls to see if there was anything of the original wood left. There wasn't, or at least a new layer of planks had been nailed on this side as well. Perhaps there was old wood in the middle? Hopefully there was, or else the house was truly bound to come crashing around Bigeri any day now from the sheer weight and instability of the rest of the pillar above them. Speaking of which, there were stairs at the other end of the room, so this monstrosity of a house continued upwards.

The room itself looked to be a combination of a kitchen, a dining room, and a shop. At least Link assumed the jars, baskets, boxes, and bags of items on one side were sellables.

Bigeri seemed to notice where he was looking as he bustled over with a big smile almost instantly.

"I see you noticed my wares", he said with a smile that immediately made him recognizable as a salesman; there was just that certain glint in his eyes that screamed 'buy something!' to Link. "You said you're usually bigger, right? Then you probably want a piece of home to take comfort in, which I can most certainly provide!"

Yep, a salesman indeed.

Link and Sidon followed Bigeri up to the shelves and tables full of… stuff. There were lengths of colourful rope, which Link assumed to be strings of thread that had come loose from big peoples' clothing and been ripped off and discarded. A few buttons, some big as cartwheels and others tray sized. A huge pile of off-white cloth which Link figured to be a handkerchief. An opal earring. Multiple jars of applesauce; Link was tempted to get one of those. Dried meats, which Link was definitely getting. Grains of rice that looked like they had been cooked once and then dried back up, which was slightly gross but Bigeri probably didn't know that. Jars of dried bread crumbs, separated by their colour, as in what was likely wheat bread in one jar and what was probably rye bread in another, and so on.

No fish of any kind, though. Sidon looked disappointed and disbelieving, which made Link feel a little bad he hadn't tried harder to keep Sidon's hopes from getting up.

"I don't suppose you have any fish?" Sidon asked almost immediately after Link had made his observation. No harm in trying, Link supposed sympathetically.

Bigeri shook his head. "It's been a few days since the last big person who actually stayed. The last one just walked right by. So no fish."

'That's too bad', Link signed, and briefly glanced at Bigeri to confirm the usual brand of confusion on his face that belied the inability to understand his signs. He sighed quietly and continued, 'I think I'll do any possible shopping tomorrow morning. Ask him if staying here is free and how much for breakfast.'

Sidon did as asked, and afterwards Bigeri ushered them upstairs. He mentioned there were two other travelers staying tonight so they should stay quiet and not bother them.

The room upstairs was of interesting design. There were four small rooms of sorts carved into the wood side by side, with only a thin wall between each. Two of them had curtains drawn at their doorways, indicating they were in use. The remaining two contained thick and wide mattresses on their floors, a few hooks on the walls to hang clothes and items on, and tall shelves carved into the back wall, kind of like a windowsill but without the window. Link was indecisive whether they were a step up or down from the cheapest beds in the big people stables; on one hand the stables had actual beds, but on the other hand these rooms had some degree of privacy.

"Are you sure you don't want a second room?" Bigeri asked quietly, eyeing Sidon critically. "You alone will take up all the space."

Sidon shook his head with a smile. "No thank you. Someone else might still arrive and need the last room. We will manage."

Link deliberately kept facing away from Bigeri, not wishing to give away the way he was blushing, dark room or not. He was pretty sure Sidon was less concerned about the potential other travelers – although that was likely still a legit concern for him – and more looking forward to the half-planned, half-promised cuddling and possible necking.

Link was one hundred percent fine with that himself.

Bigeri let them suit themselves and returned downstairs, leaving Link and Sidon to settle down in their room. Sidon's feet stuck out from under the curtains, the room not designed for someone so tall, but Link was perfectly cozy resting on Sidon's chest. He could most certainly get used to this, and Sidon already seemed to be, judging from how he was noticeably more relaxed this time than last night.

Link rose up to sit on Sidon's stomach for one more thing before they could get even cozier.

'Ask Bigeri about the Vaatians tomorrow', he signed slowly, having to spell the strange word out for the lack of knowing the proper sign for it, if one existed.

Sidon nodded, and then placed his hands on Link's waist, which may or may not have immediately made Link's heart race. "I will. If that was all, I would prefer you laying down and making yourself comfortable now."

Was that flirting? Maybe it was. Maybe Link was just interpreting it in the way he wanted to. Either way, he didn't need to be told twice.

The quiet, content hum Sidon made, the feel of rough scales against Link's lips, and the weight of Sidon's hands on his back were the best lullaby he could ever ask for.


	18. Nobody told you about the Vaatians?

Link woke up to the sound of footsteps going either up or down the stairs; it was hard to tell right after waking up. He stayed completely still and just listened for a bit to learn more without giving himself away; it was a habit from his travels that still occasionally got triggered by unexpected noises. It had actually saved him from a Yiga ambush once after the whole Ganon ordeal, so he wasn't planning on shaking it anytime soon.

Anyway, the footsteps.

The sound definitely came down from the floor above, then it stopped on Link's floor for a moment with a light appearing on the other side of the curtain, and then moved further down to the floor below. That must have been Bigeri, seeing how there had been one more set of stairs leading up and no bed for him on the two floors Link had already seen. Link had guessed the topmost floor to be Bigeri's personal living space, and it seemed he had been right.

Satisfied with his safety and grateful for the dim light, Link stretched languidly. He looked at the sleeping form of Sidon lying under him and sat up very carefully, not wanting to jostle him too much.

He still couldn't believe he was apparently not only allowed to, but encouraged to use Sidon as his mattress every night. He looked at the still slumbering Zora with a shy smile, taking in his perfectly relaxed features in the limited light. Sidon had a small smile on his lips even in his sleep, and Link had to use a lot of self-restraint to not lean over and kiss it. He would not sink that low; kissing someone in their sleep without some kind of a blanket permission was simply not on. They were not a couple, even if he was getting increasingly hopeful that they might be in the future.

However, he did have a blanket permission for something else and after last night he was a lot less hesitant about using the privilege.

Link carefully laid back down on Sidon's chest and pressed a gentle kiss on the underside of his chin. He waited a second to see if Sidon woke up yet, then dropped another kiss on one side of his neck, then one to the other side. Sidon hummed and sluggishly slung an arm across Link's back. Link smiled against Sidon's neck and gave it one more kiss before pulling back just enough to stare at Sidon's chin. It didn't take long before Sidon tilted his head enough to meet Link's eyes.

"Good morning", he said, voice rough from sleep and a sleepy smile on his lips. Link's heart skipped a beat or two.

"Morning", he whispered back, only somewhat anxious about the Minish travelers who were likely still sleeping in their rooms right next to them. He was reasonably sure they wouldn't hear him if he was quiet enough.

Sidon's smile widened and he hugged Link – a bit roughly – in his excitement. Vocalizing to Sidon was definitely worth it every time.

"I slept really well last night", Sidon said after he was done squeezing the breath out of Link. "I knew holding you would get easier with practice."

Link blushed and looked away, not sure if he was embarrassed or flattered or simply both.

"...Likewise", he whispered after a moment of consideration. He patted Sidon's chest. "Comfy."

Sidon squeezed him again.

ooooo

After getting dressed and collecting their luggage, the two of them descended the stairs and saw Bigeri making breakfast while another Minish was examining the sellables.

"Good morning, you two", Bigeri said after glancing over his shoulder at them. "Breakfast will be done soon."

Sidon gave back a greeting that was enthusiastic enough to cover for Link's silence, which… was probably the point, actually. Link was grateful.

They seated themselves at the table and waited. The Minish who had been looking at the wares joined them right away, looking half wary and half curious.

"Bigeri said you used to be big people", they said without any attempts at working up to it. "Can you tell me about the big people world?"

They were looking at Link expectantly and studiously avoiding looking at Sidon. They probably thought Link was the more approachable one. Or the less scary one.

Link gave them a big and cheerful smile and signed: 'Hello to you, too. Nice to meet someone with even less manners than I have. I'm so proud of you.'

Sidon looked mortified, likely forgetting the Minish wouldn't understand a word. The Minish in question looked confused. Bigeri coughed like he was trying to hide a laugh, which meant that he had definitely been watching them on the sly. All of it was glorious.

Sidon took the conversation over from there with the air of someone trying to salvage a situation – much to the confusion of the rude Minish – while Link basked in his wittiness and shoveled in his breakfast when it arrived. The other Minish traveler came down and joined them shortly after, thankfully not making a scene of any kind.

After the conversation eventually died down, Link poked at Sidon's bicep. It was time to get to business. 'Vaatians?'

"Ah, you're right", Sidon said, and turned towards Bigeri. "Excuse me, Bigeri. You mentioned something called Vaatians last night. Could you tell us more?"

All three Minish present looked collectively shocked by the question. That couldn't mean anything good.

"You're traveling towards the capital and nobody thought to tell you about the Vaatians?" Bigeri asked disbelievingly. He shook his head. "Alright then. Vaatians are troublemakers. They worship a historical figure called Vaati, who was said to have been a great mage who turned evil. Something like that anyway; I'm not a historian. Vaatians claim that the Minish culture is stagnated and needs to be completely uprooted. I don't know the details. I hear they practice dark magic, too. The more radical of their numbers dye their hair white and dress in purple to make a statement. They usually abandon their old names and take new ones that break the norm like… well, Vaati."

Link wasn't sure what to think. On one hand, these Vaatians sounded a lot like the Yiga Clan; being radicals and abandoning their peoples' ways and causing trouble and all. On the other hand, he didn't know enough about the situation to really judge them. They could just be rebellious youth that didn't enjoy all the sameness the Minish had going on, and Link couldn't blame them for that.

"Are they dangerous?" Sidon asked, and Link nodded to chorus the question.

"They can be if you engage", Bigeri answered. "Usually they just try to steal ancient artifacts from the museum in the capital, and sometimes vandalize big people objects. If you try to stop them, they get violent. If you simply don't mess with them the worst they'll do is try to recruit you. I'm wary of them because of my big people oriented profession."

Link shared a look with Sidon.

"It sounds like they just might have a problem with our very existences, don't you think?" Sidon asked slowly.

Bigeri looked at him questioningly for a moment before it visibly dawned on him. "Oh! Yes, you might want to keep a low profile. Doesn't, um, seem like an easy thing to do with your looks. You will probably get into trouble whether you want to or not. I'm sorry."

'We can handle it', Link signed confidently. To be honest, he wasn't against a bit of trouble; their trip had been largely hassle-free so far and it was odd.

He wasn't sure how much force would be acceptable in this case, though. The only enemies he had fought that counted as people were the Yiga, and they tended to flee when they lost so he didn't usually have to make a choice between killing them and sparing them. He knew killing them wasn't frowned upon, though, so he didn't have to be careful during the fights regardless of the end results. Here? He didn't know if dead bodies or lost limbs would be acceptable options. Would he instantly be labeled as a heartless murderer or something? He might have to ask someone. Not Bigeri, though; he didn't seem all that knowledgeable on this subject.

Link could only hope he wouldn't have to make the choice before finding out.

"I see. Thank you", Sidon said thoughtfully. He didn't seem to have noticed Link's signing, but Link was willing to let it slide; he was plenty preoccupied with his thoughts himself.

The rest of the meal went by quietly. Apparently the subject of Vaatians was a sobering one.

ooooo

Link purchased a few strips of dried meat and a jar of applesauce, and then the two of them left to continue their journey. The Minish travelers were headed to the opposite direction, so thankfully they didn't have to endure any party increases slowing their progress. Link had been low-key dreading the possibility since last night.

The walk through the last patch of ash-covered ground was uneventful, and eventually they reached grass once more. Their path went uphill, but it was far from the steepest rises Link had climbed so he wasn't particularly worried about it slowing them down. More worrying than the marginal extra effort in their walk was Sidon's unusual silence that had been going on for long enough for Link to take notice. Sidon becoming silent was a recurring trend lately; a troubling one at that.

Link gave Sidon sidelong looks to make it clear he had noticed the issue, but he was ignored. Unnoticed. ...It was strange to not get Sidon's attention the instant he wanted it.

He was getting a bit spoiled, wasn't he?

"Sidon?" Link asked , deciding to take the initiative like an adult.

"Yes?" Sidon asked distractedly, but at least he was responding.

"What's up? You're quiet."

Sidon stopped walking for a second, looking surprised. He then turned to give Link an apologetic smile and resumed walking. "My apologies for worrying you. I merely have… a few things on my mind. I could unburden myself from a couple of them if you're willing to lend me an ear?"

Link simply nodded.

Sidon took a moment to collect his thoughts, but began talking soon enough. He looked frustrated. "I'm worried about the Vaatians. About our presence causing trouble for everyone around us. Will we put everyone who speaks with us in danger? What if we're attacked in the middle of the city? You could likely blend in and not attract undue attention if you were alone. I, on the other hand, look too different from the Minish in every way. I will stand out everywhere we go. There is simply no way to avoid their notice like this. We're walking targets, and a potential risk for innocent people."

Link nodded again. He could see how this would bother Sidon, since he wasn't used to being hunted by assassins or other troublesome people.

Thankfully, Link was an expert.

'The Yiga Clan was insistent on offing me back when Ganon was still around', he signed automatically, before remembering to speak out loud. "They found me even when I was wearing my Gerudo disguise, and when I was practically lost within the Faron Woods. It doesn't matter whether you stand out or try to hide if your pursuer is determined to find you. You just have to keep a sharp eye out for suspicious people so that you're prepared for it when they act."

Sidon looked a combination of horrified and impressed, which was rather a funny look on him.

"I completely forgot about the Yiga", Sidon said. "I know you have mentioned being targeted by them before, but I was admittedly more worried about the scale of your task than the small details."

Link hid a smile at the thought of how offended the Yiga would be at being labeled as "the small details". Kohga, especially. He was probably spinning madly in his grave.

"That's okay", Link said, then cleared his throat uncomfortably. He really didn't like vocalizing for entire conversations. "I doubt the Vaatians will harm the people we talk to. If they're smart they will subtly inquire about us after we're already gone to gain more knowledge and leave it at that. We have no real ties here and they gain nothing by threatening harm to random people we have spoken to once. Or at least as long as they have no reason to assume we have… hero complexes."

Link gave a silent glare in the general direction of the Hyrule Castle and Zelda. He was an actual hero, he was allowed to be heroic whenever he wanted to, thankyouverymuch.

"If they do attack us in the middle of the city…" he said slowly, formulating a strategy as he spoke, "...I will keep them occupied and you make any bystanders leave. Then you stab the enemy in the back; figuratively and maybe literally."

Sidon gave a startled laugh, which was absolutely delightful.

"I couldn't possibly backstab anybody, but I approve of the rest of the plan", Sidon said, and shook his head with a fond smile. "Thank you. I feel a lot better now that I got to talk to you about this."

Link smiled back at him. He was also glad to have gotten at least one thing off of Sidon's mind. However, he remembered there being more than one thing. He elbowed Sidon's side lightly. "Other things on your mind?"

Sidon blinked rapidly, probably reeling from the subject change. Then he frowned and stared at Link. Or rather, stared at the spot where Link happened to be standing; he probably didn't even see him right then. In the end, he shook his head with smile that was only slightly off; if Link hadn't known him as well as he did he wouldn't have been able to tell it apart from the usual carefree one.

"Nothing pressing", Sidon said and looked forward. "I'm hoping the solutions will come on their own and I needn't trouble you at all. I promise to talk to you if the need arises. Please let it be for now."

Link would be lying if he claimed he wasn't awfully curious, but Sidon placed a hand on his shoulder and kept it there for a long time while they walked and he happily let the subject drop. He didn't want the hand to let go, after all. He had priorities.


	19. What caused-?

Link was starting to regret his life choices.

They had left Bigeri's place early in the morning with the intention of reaching the next Minish town by nightfall. Bigeri had warned them that, while possible, only seasoned travelers managed it; most people would have to call it a night by "The Flower Patch Camp" or risk fumbling around in the dark.

Link and Sidon made a good time to the first commonly used resting spot and pressed on with high hopes, encouraged by the fact that they had reached the top of the hill and no longer had to ascend. They had kept a brisk pace and had even skipped one meal in order to save time, and had made it to the Flower Patch Camp still within daylight hours. They ate a hearty meal there and departed for the last leg of their current road.

And that's when things started going wrong.

First it was a minor nuisance of a few Chuchus. Granted, they were a lot bigger than what Link was used to, but Chuchus were simply not that dangerous in the first place, so the size made very little difference in smashing them to pieces as per usual. It wasted some of their limited time, but they still thought they had a fair chance of reaching the town before the forest got pitch black.

Then it started to rain.

At first Link thought he had accidentally dropped a bomb during the scuffle and then set it off right by some Chuchu remains. That would have explained the sudden loud noise, shrapnel of dirt and wetness hitting him from behind, and the small crater on the ground. Except the noise wasn't loud enough, the liquid was too thin, the crater not big enough, and the force pushing him face first into the ground not strong enough.

And then another enormous raindrop hit the ground nearby and made him look up while Sidon was still fussing over him. The sky had gotten dark with clouds while they had been distracted by the enemy, and they were more or less out in the open and in the danger of being hit by what at their current size were large and heavy water bombs falling at deadly speeds.

"Sidon", Link said and pushed himself up to his feet quickly. "We need to move. Now."

"What?" Sidon asked, but followed Link's lead of running towards what would hopefully turn out to be a decent shelter in the distance regardless of his confusion. "What caused-"

Another drop of water hit the ground and made Sidon startle, stop in his tracks for a second, and then get back to running with more haste.

"I see. We need shelter. Good plan."

Link didn't waste his breath replying. He noticed a shadow appear in his path and wisely avoided the spot right before another raindrop hit the ground with deadly force on that very spot. He stopped for a second to allow Sidon to catch up to him, then grabbed his friend's hand and began to guide him forward. He had figured out a strategy but couldn't know if Sidon had done the same. He wasn't about to risk it.

They spent a frightening fifteen-ish minutes running and narrowly dodging the quickly intensifying rainfall until they finally made it to the shelter Link had seen: a huge mushroom.

Link ran face first into the stalk to stop himself from running past the shelter, and wrapped his arms around it to stop his body from collapsing. Sidon tripped past him because of their linked hands, but thankfully stayed under the mushroom's protective hat when he let go and face-planted.

They panted from exhaustion for a good while, and eventually Link let go of the mushroom and sat down at its base. Sidon joined him soon after.

"That was… strange", Sidon said. "I never thought I'd have to run away from rain for any reason, much less to preserve my life."

'Try Gerudo Desert monsoons', Link signed. This rain had been much direr actually, since monsoons had to build themselves up for a while before they got dangerous. His point still stood, in his opinion.

"No, I'm almost certain I'd simply enjoy it unless lightning was invol-"

Like summoned by Sidon's words, a lightning bolt struck the ground frighteningly near, splitting the sky with a flash of light and being almost immediately followed by a deep rumble.

Link's mind was instantly elsewhere.

Smell of ozone. Sand everywhere; in his mouth, nose, eyes. Wind whipping wildly around him. Ground shaking with every enormous stomp. Screaming. His name.

Hands on his shoulders, shaking him gently. Link blinked and focused his gaze on beautiful yellow eyes full of concern and determination.

Sidon.

Link kept their eyes locked and took a deep breath. He was not in Gerudo Desert. Vah Naboris was long tamed. The lightning didn't target him specifically. He was with Sidon.

He was alright.

'It's fine', Link signed with a small smile. 'Thanks. That was quick of you.'

Sidon searched his face for a moment, then leaned back with a smile. "No problem. I'm glad you're alright. I figured lightning might trigger that kind of reaction, so I checked. I'm very thankful you told me the full story yesterday. I wouldn't have known to be vigilant otherwise."

Link wouldn't have known to watch out for it himself, to be honest. He didn't usually freak out because of lightning, as it had never been linked solely to Vah Naboris in his mind. Mostly it made him think of the Thundra Plateau or Farosh. He supposed his reaction was a combination of mentioning Gerudo Desert just a moment before, his recent onslaught of flashbacks, and possibly his current size. Either way, he was glad Sidon had snapped him out of it before it could get bad.

He would have been screwed many times over already if he had left Sidon at the Stable Inn.

"We're stuck here for the night, aren't we?" Sidon asked, snapping Link out of his thoughts.

Damn, Sidon was right. There was no way they could walk in the rain and very little chance of it ceasing anytime soon. It was already late and it would be well into the night by the time the rain was done pouring down.

So much for making it to the town today. They really should have just stayed at the camping spot.

"We are", Link answered with a weary sigh. "Let's just hope this spot is high enough to not get flooded. Damn, I don't think I have enough firewood for a proper fire either."

Tonight was going to suck.

"I think it's downhill on that side, so this spot should be good", Sidon said after a moment of looking around. He set down his bag. "At least the humid air suits me just fine. That's a silver lining. We'll just bundle you up to make up for the lack of fire and I'll hold you close."

Right. Link would still get to be in Sidon's arms the whole night. It wasn't half as cold as Hebra or the nights in Gerudo Desert either. And there were no sSal creatures around anymore, much less their size.

Yeah, this wouldn't be the worst camping night after all. He could deal with it.

ooooo

Link woke up to footsteps. Multiple footsteps. But it didn't sound like multiple people. A monster?

He bounced up without a warning and paid no mind to Sidon's 'oof' and coughing. He grabbed his sword and turned towards the sound completely on instinct.

There was a creature the size of a dog poking its antennae all over their bags. The creature had six legs, a segmented body, and large mandibles.

An ant.

Link swung his sword at it before he could even think about it, but it simply glanced off the hard exoskeleton. Not that he had been aiming precisely or hit that hard in the first place – thinking the ant an easy foe – but it still made him pause in mild shock.

It was enough to make the ant leave post-haste, at least. That was all that really mattered.

But still, the Master Sword failed to cause any actual damage to an ant. Link made a mental note to be more careful in the future, should they need to actually battle against any chitin-covered insects. Aim for the joints and maybe pierce rather than slash if aiming for the body; that sounded like a working strategy based on what happened just now.

"I see you took care of that already", Sidon's voice said from behind him. Link turned to look and found Sidon holding his spear and abandoning his effort to sleepily stand up. The Zora smiled ruefully. "I had no idea we were being ambushed until you used me as a springboard, and by the time I recovered it was too late. My apologies for being completely useless."

Link shook his head and sheathed his sword. 'I have better hearing. And you were a good springboard.'

Sidon laughed. "That would have made for an amusing carving on my headstone. 'He failed to defend himself, but at least he was a good springboard'. My lack of reaction to anything that might have meant trouble for us is simply appalling so far. You shouldn't need to defend me. I need to do better."

Link shrugged. He was used to being the bodyguard, so he didn't particularly mind. Besides, at least Sidon was more than capable of watching his back should he need it, so Link was already more at ease than he had ever been protecting Zelda.

Sidon looked around and smiled. "Good news. It's not raining anymore. I don't know if you noticed it, but I think it rained all night long. I felt it long after I fell asleep. Look, there are still droplets dripping from our mushroom's hat."

Link looked around. Everything he could see was either shiny with a fresh water coating or muddy if it was close to the ground or the ground itself.

That… didn't look fun to travel in.

Sidon walked to the edge of the mushroom's protective circle and peered up to the sky. He grimaced.

"There are still heavy clouds in the sky", he said and looked at Link worriedly. "It will likely rain more today. We should keep an eye out for shelters at all times if we're moving."

Great. Link didn't want to waste time sitting under a mushroom the whole day, but moving would be dangerous. He had also been making a lot of poor decisions lately, so maybe they should play it safe this time?

…

'Let's go.'

ooooo

Wading through the mud was tedious and slow. It turned out that what passed for an annoyingly muddy trek as a big person was an absolute hell for an acorn sized person. They were up to their knees in mud at good times and up to their waist at worst. Well, Link was anyway: Sidon was tall enough that the mud only ever reached his upper thighs. Link refused the offer to be carried, though.

At one point they needed to take shelter under another mushroom for about an hour, but they continued as soon as the rain let up. They should be close to the town now and didn't fancy camping out in the rain for another night if they could help it.

As long as it wasn't currently raining, they would damn well continue onwards.

They soon reached the base of what was a steep hill at their size and were faced with another new obstacle: a puddle had formed at the base. At their size it was more like a large lake. According to their map, it shouldn't be there and as such it hadn't been accounted to the travel time.

"It'll take a long while to go around it", Sidon said conversely.

"Yep."

"If we were Minish, we would probably be desperate by now."

"Yep."

"Shall we then?" Sidon asked, and jumped into the water with a delighted smile and his usual flourish.

"Yep", Link said with an equally large smile, and hopped on.

Sidon crossed the puddle in roughly five minutes, both of them enjoying every second of it. Then they spent an extra ten minutes washing the mud off their legs, or at least that was their thinly veiled excuse to frolic in the water.

"I've dearly missed swimming", Sidon said, floating on his back with Link straddling his stomach.

"Something good came out of that rain after all", Link answered, eyes locked on the blissful and absolutely beautiful contentment on Sidon's face. The sight made his heart ache something fierce.

"Mmhmm."

The only sound for a moment was the gentle lapping of the water and the distant singing of birds. Just peace and quiet that neither of them wanted to break.

Sidon closed his eyes and sighed. His smile was sweet and soft, and Link felt completely drawn to it, like a moth to a flame. Sidon's lips were always tantalizing, but now they were simply inviting, daring Link to reach out. He would only have to lean forward to press his own lips against them. He didn't want to resist any longer, not at that moment.

"Sidon?" he asked, deciding to throw all the caution to the wind. The moment was perfect. It couldn't get better than this and throwing away the opportunity would probably count as a crime.

"Hmm?"

"May I-"

There was a sudden 'plop' sound to their right that startled them both. They looked in its direction quickly, and saw ripples in the water. Then there was another 'plop'. And another.

"Shit!" Link said, and that was all he had the time to say before Sidon tossed him haphazardly over his shoulder and swam to the shore in what was likely just seconds. Then he was unceremoniously carried like a bag of flour under the huge leaf they had left their belongings at, just in case this very thing happened.

They made it there just in time before the rainfall began in earnest and the scenery around their shelter turned into a blurry curtain of wetness.

Link stared at it glumly from the spot Sidon had set him down on.

"...What was it you wanted to ask?" Sidon asked after a long moment of gloomy silence.

Oh, right. That mood was completely gone now, that was for sure.

'Nothing', Link signed, frowning at the rain unhappily.

From the corner of his eye he saw Sidon stare at him, then look around their dingy shelter with a contemplative frown. Finally the Zora sighed with a ghost of a smile that Link might even describe as sulky.

"I see. Nothing it is."

Link had the feeling Sidon was just as mad at the rainfall as he was. The thought lifted his spirits at least slightly.

Soon, he decided. No more excuses or waiting.

Very soon.


	20. Do you suppose we should knock on one?

The rainfall stopped after what Link estimated to be two full hours of pouring buckets. His sour mood had evaporated during it, and the two of them had had a hearty mushroom meal while waiting for the skies to clear. He was kind of done with mushrooms after a third shroomy meal in a row; they had, after all, been hanging out under mushrooms a lot lately and had obviously used the opportunity to eat as much of their shelters as they could and had packed some more with them.

The last minutes of rainfall had been spent munching on honey candy contently.

Now that the rain was finally done for the moment, they hurriedly continued their trek.

"The town should be very close by now", Sidon said as they practically climbed the steep hill whose base they had been hanging out at.

"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or frustrated by that", Link said, smiling. "On one hand, it'll be good to finally reach the town instead of spending any more time under mushrooms or leaves. But on the other hand, the knowledge that we were so close to the town and still had to stay under a leaf for two hours…"

Sidon chuckled.

They made their way up without incidents and almost immediately after the climb Sidon spotted the town under a huge tree.

They had been maybe an hour, tops, away from it the whole time.

Link may or may not have swore a little on their way towards the town.

ooooo

The town was curious. Sidon had seen a few leaf houses from the distance and they had assumed that to be it, and the town to be the smallest one yet. They had been mistaken.

Turned out the houses by the tree were just the surface part of a much larger town that was mostly located underground, between and beneath the tree's massive roots. The earth this close to the mud lake was rich in clay and – according to the locals – perfect for underground dwellings.

The Minish were dressed in woven yellow-ish grass tunics and wore acorn hats on their heads. Link wagered the tunics were more durable in the long run than the leafwear from the other towns, especially if one did a lot of digging. Maybe he'd buy a set if they found the shop that sold them.

The few Minish they met directed them to a tunnel that would lead them into the underground town. Sidon eyed the entrance tunnel with a troubled look.

"It doesn't look as big as the one between Stable Town and the stable", he said worriedly. "I wonder if I will be able to walk upright."

Link hopped into the tunnel and looked around. The tunnel was wide enough for two or three Minish to walk side by side, and tall enough for Link to have more than enough headroom. However, when he raised his arms he was able to touch the ceiling without issue.

Sidon was almost twice Link's height.

'That would be a no', he signed after returning to the entrance. 'You're going to have to stay hunched to walk here.'

Sidon groaned and looked at the surface town with a slightly desperate expression. They had been told that the local inn was underground and all the houses on the surface were private dwellings. It seemed like he was contemplating just randomly knocking on a door and asking for a place to stay. Link knew he would be considering that in Sidon's position.

After a moment Sidon sighed and gestured for Link to move along. "I couldn't possibly impose on someone without at least trying the tunnels first."

Link shrugged and went further in so Sidon could come down. Sidon followed slowly, clearly reluctant.

Link had been right: Sidon had to bend his back considerably to fit in, and just looking at the angle and thinking about maintaining it for who knows how long was painful.

'We could still go back up', Link signed after a couple of minutes of watching Sidon try to adjust his posture into something workable in vain.

Sidon shook his head. That, too, looked uncomfortable; especially since it made his tail flop to one shoulder and that was sure to cause him neck pain in the long run if he didn't fix it. Thankfully he did.

"No. I can manage. Let's see what this town has to offer."

Link shrugged, again. 'It's your back.'

He made a mental note to give Sidon a back rub once they reached the inn.

ooooo

The tunnel was illuminated with lanterns that had Fire Chuchu jelly in them, and the ceiling continued to be low. The walls were a mixture of brown and gray and were occasionally reinforced with wood logs. The air was musty and earthy and a bit hotter than comfortable.

Sidon seemed to be suffering greatly, but he wasn't saying anything about it so neither did Link, despite his worry. He really hoped the inn had a higher ceiling and maybe even a bath of Sidon's size.

Unlike the busy tunnel back at Stable Town, this one was eerily empty and felt monotonous and endless because of it. If they hadn't been specifically directed here by a local, Link would be thinking they weren't in the right place.

After what felt like hours of walking in a never ending loop, but was probably just minutes in a simply boring tunnel, they came across something new. They arrived to a spot where the tunnel split into three, and there was a directions sign on the wall.

They eagerly approached it in hopes of figuring out the easiest way to the inn or the local shops or possible other points of interest. At this point they weren't picky about which came first.

There were helpful arrows on the sign to indicate which tunnels to take to get to specific places, but the writing was in Minish. To them, written Minish meant illegible gibberish.

'That's very helpful.'

"A simple setback", Sidon said, and stretched his neck to his best ability in the cramped space. "We can just pick a direction and then ask the locals once we run into one."

So far they hadn't met anyone in the tunnel. Link was a little skeptical.

"It's lunch hour", Sidon said, like he was reading Link's mind. "People are probably eating at their homes. Besides, this tunnel seems to only lead outside; maybe the Minish who dwell down here don't feel much of a need to go up. We will likely meet lots of people in these other tunnels."

Fair enough. Link walked up to each tunnel and listened carefully. In the left one he heard a lot of noise. In the middle one he heard a bit less noise. The right one was practically silent save for a weird scratching sound.

They chose the left tunnel.

As they advanced the noises got louder. It was clearly chatter and children's shrieks of merriment, although the sounds sounded a bit muffled. At the very least they would find people in this direction.

Soon there started being doors with plaques, presumably name tags or addresses, left and right. The noises were coming from the other sides of the doors. Link wagered they were dwellings, since they lacked any signs welcoming people in or hinting at what kind of things were being sold like shops would have.

"Do you suppose we should knock on one?" Sidon asked after they had passed countless same-looking doors and no variety had presented itself. There didn't seem to be an end to the doors; the tunnel kept going forward as far as Link's eye could see. If they were all houses and they were all occupied, the town had a huge population. He didn't particularly want to find out how huge, especially the hard way.

'Might be for the best.'

They approached the nearest door and knocked, and the chatter they'd heard from the inside quieted almost instantly. There was a pitter-patter sound, then the door was opened a little bit.

First came the smell of food that made Link realize he was hungry, then a tiny Minish peered at Sidon curiously with huge eyes.

"Hello, we're-"

"Mom!" The tiny Minish called before Sidon could finish his sentence. "There's a huge red person at our door."

They hadn't even noticed Link with their eyes glued to Sidon. He could hardly blame them: Sidon was a sight to see, especially to someone who had most likely never seen a Zora before.

Another Minish, a bigger one, walked over. They, too, stared at Sidon.

"Hello, we-"

"Beanpaste, there really is a huge red person at our door!"

Link snorted. This was getting good.

Another Minish arrived, took one look at Sidon, and shook their head. "You sure are huge and red. You need something?"

Link lost it. The laughter poured out of his mouth with zero restraint as he leaned against the speechless Sidon, gasping for breath between peals of merriment.

"There's another one!" The tiny Minish squealed. "It's not red! Or huge!"

That absolutely didn't help calm Link down. He was wheezing at this point.

"Please pardon my friend", Sidon said with a smile in his voice, and patted Link's shoulder. "Let me start over. Hello, we're travelers and we find ourselves a bit lost in these tunnels. Which way should we take to get to the inn?"

"What are you?" The tiny Minish asked, but got hushed by what Link now assumed to be their mother.

"Depends on which way you came from", 'Beanpaste' answered. "Did you walk by a three way crossroad?"

So there was more than one entrance. Link supposed he should have taken that much for granted; cave-ins would be devastatingly deadly otherwise. Still, it was nice to know.

He was starting to regain his composure and breath by then and could pay proper attention to the conversation.

"Yes, we did", Sidon said.

"Oh goody! Just go back there and take the middle tunnel", Beanpaste said with a smile. "That's the way to the town center. All the shops are there."

'What's on the right?' Link signed. He got met with questioning looks, as per usual nowadays. It was starting to really grate on his nerves. He sighed, frustrated, and repeated his inquiry to Sidon, who asked it out loud for him.

Beanpaste cringed. "Ah, you will not want to go there. Just trust me on this one. Was there anything else?"

'That's not an answer', Link signed with a frown. 'Just tells us.'

Sidon shook his head, though, and smiled at the Minish family without voicing Link's request. Link's attempt at repeating his question was flat out ignored.

"Thank you, we'll keep that in mind", he said. "We won't keep you longer. Please go back to your lunch. Thank you for the help."

"No problem! Enjoy your stay at our town."

After the door was closed, Link heard a muffled "But I wanted to know what they were!" from the other side. He sympathized with the child. With that thought, he turned to glare at Sidon as they began walking.

'Go right ahead and silence me, why don't you?' He signed, fuming. 'It's so much fun to not be understood without aid and then my only means of communication starts deciding what I get or don't get to say.'

Sidon looked taken aback. "What? I didn't mean it like that. I merely didn't want to press the subject since it didn't seem to be a welcome one. It was clear they wanted to get back to their meal quickly."

Link's glare deepened. 'It's irrelevant whether you meant it or not. You didn't want to press the subject, but I did. You don't get to decide for me.'

Sidon shook his head. "My apologies. I didn't want to be rude to the people who were helping us."

Not being rude to strangers was apparently more important than not leaving Link flailing. Link was getting really damn sick of flailing, too.

Princely fucking manners.

'The only reason you got to come with me instead of staying at the Stable Inn was because I need a translator', Link signed heatedly. 'You don't get to choose when my words are allowed just because you don't agree with me.'

Sidon stopped walking with a shocked look.

Link realized what he just said.

Shit.

'Sorry!' he signed immediately, but the damage was already done.

Sidon took a deep breath and tried to straighten his posture, only to bump his head to the low ceiling. He frowned and then visibly pretended that didn't happen, which Link was perfectly willing to go along with.

"I see", Sidon said calmly. "I thoroughly apologize for failing at my one job. I shall endeavor to do better from now on."

Link cringed. Sidon's words just brought more shame on him instead of making him feel like he won the argument.

'I didn't mean it', he signed, looking at Sidon imploringly.

Sidon's face was expressionless. "Sure. Let's go back to the crossroad."

Link watched Sidon's hunched back as the Zora started walking away from him.

Shit.


	21. Talk now?

The walk to the crossroad was filled with awkward silence. Awkward on Link's part anyway; Sidon just seemed silently angry, judging from the occasional twitch his tail did.

Link wanted to bash his stupid head against something. He still believed he had been within his rights to get angry at Sidon, but he had definitely screwed up at the end. True, having Sidon act as the spokesperson had been the main reason he hadn't insisted harder on Sidon staying behind, but it wasn't like they had made some kind of a deal where Sidon only got to come along on the condition that he acted as Link's translator. He more or less just volunteered to do that on the side of being the one asking for directions and such. Yes, it was thoughtless and dismissive of Sidon to suddenly withdraw his crucial help like that, but it was awful of Link to hurl an old and practically unrelated argument at him in response. They could have and should have discussed the actual problem at hand civilly without it.

Link supposed that when you got right down to it, he had reached a boiling point and Sidon had happened to be the trigger. The situation simply wasn't fair to anyone.

He sighed and jogged up to Sidon.

"Sidon?" he whispered. He wasn't sure if Sidon would even look at his signing now, but he also didn't want to be heard by others by accident. He didn't need the added problems that would come from him completely clamping up for days out of anxiety.

Sidon stopped walking and took a deep breath. "I know we need to talk about this, but I need a clearer head for that. Let's find the inn and have a bite. Then we'll talk."

Link nodded and tried to swallow his misery silently.

Sidon didn't resume walking.

"I… For the record, I truly meant that apology."

Link nodded again, only this time his heart felt just a bit lighter and the following silence in their resumed walk a little less awkward.

ooooo

The middle path began similarly to the left path, but the ceiling quickly started getting higher and the path wider as they approached the brightly lit cavern that was the town center. Soon enough Sidon could straighten his back and make attempts at getting rid of the kinks caused by the earlier hunching. He still couldn't stretch properly – the cavern wasn't high enough – but not having to stay hunched was loads better than nothing.

As for the town center itself, the sight of it was completely worth wandering in the cramped tunnels, at least in Link's opinion.

There were Chuchu jelly lanterns everywhere, bathing the Minish made cavern in warm light and illuminating the wondrous sculptures that were all over the place. Every shop wall had carved reliefs indicating what was being sold: what was obviously furniture shop had chairs, tables and shelves pictured around the door, while the food store had mushrooms, seeds and flowers. There wasn't a patch of wall that didn't have at least some decorative pattern on it, even if it didn't have intricate reliefs. There were occasional pillars that doubled as statues of probably famous Minish people on the more open areas of the cavern; they probably helped keep the ceiling from collapsing. And there were absolutely random clay sculptures of various sizes and subjects on every spot that someone had probably deemed too empty at some point.

It was as chaotic as it was beautiful.

"I miss Zora's Domain", Sidon muttered, staring wide-eyed at… everything, really.

Link could see where that thought came from: the Domain invested more in elegance and order than this place, but just like the cavern it had barely any undecorated spots. Of course statues and carvings reminded Sidon of home.

"I wish my father could see this", Sidon said after a moment. "Muzu would likely appreciate foreign art, too."

Now that was very easily solved. Link smiled and tapped Sidon's arm to get his attention. 'Sheikah Slate.'

Sidon stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, then brightened. "You're right! The camera rune!"

Link leaned against a less impressively decorated spot on a wall and watched Sidon photograph everything with a fond smile. Maybe this would make up for his earlier words a little.

Speaking of their earlier conversation, Link supposed he could locate the inn they were looking for since he was idle. It should be very easy in this particular instance: the decorated wall should give the inn away the instance he saw it. With that thought, he looked around at the shop fronts. Furniture, food, cookware, clothing, miscellaneous stuff… There. That one was obviously the inn: the wall around the door had reliefs of beds and food tables.

He tapped Sidon's arm and pointed.

"Oh, you found the inn", Sidon said with a smile and put the Slate away. "Splendid. I'll take pictures later. Let's eat."

Sidon took an enthusiastic step towards the door, but then stopped cold and looked at Link, his smile dropping. The atmosphere got tense, at least in Link's opinion.

And talk, was what Sidon left unsaid.

Link nodded warily, and together they entered the inn.

Whereas the tunnels and the cavern had been empty, the inn was buzzing with Minish. All the tables were full of Minish eating their lunches; thankfully about finished for the most part. A confused looking waiter walked up to them.

"How unusual for people to arrive late for lunch", they said. "You're obviously visitors. Here people take their meals like clockwork, so the tables are currently full. If you'll wait a bit, the fastest eaters should be done soon."

They didn't comment on Sidon's looks in any way, which at least was nice.

"Thank you", Sidon said with a polite smile. "Would you mind taking our orders while we wait so that our food will arrive quickly once were seated? We unfortunately cannot read Minish, so we would also appreciate you telling us the options."

The waiter hesitated for a moment, but eventually agreed to the unorthodox proposition. Fish was not an option, unsurprisingly, so in the end both Link and Sidon ordered frog thigh. Sidon wagered that it might actually satisfy his hunger to some extent, since frogs were occasionally part of the Zora diet – probably for a reason. It should be better than mushrooms or nuts in any case. Link simply wanted to try it to see if it tasted better than the frog-based elixirs he had drank on his travels. They were kind of gross.

A curious thing about the food selection here was that most things were glazed or marinated or outright made out of honey. It reminded Link that Hiveri supposedly lived in this town, so chances were he supplied everyone with plenty of the honey he mysteriously obtained. Finding him was the first thing Link wanted to do once they were done here.

Before that, however, came eating, renting a room, and… talking.

Unfortunately, not likely in that order.

They waited in anxious silence until a table was freed and cleaned, and they got seated.

The silence stretched on and started to get downright unbearable until finally their meals arrived and the tension got momentarily broken as both tucked in hungrily. The frog leg was actually delicious when marinated in honey and properly cooked. Maybe it was the monster parts that made elixirs so gross?

Link waited until the both of them had had a few bites before he set down his fork and looked at Sidon in resignation.

'Talk now?'

Sidon chewed and swallowed what was in his mouth before nodding. "Yes. Let's do that."

Link didn't want to be the lesser man this time, so he started whipping up signs right away before Sidon could get a word in edgewise.

'I'm really sorry for bringing up the Stable Inn earlier', he signed. 'It was unnecessary and stemmed up from my frustration with my communication situation as a whole. I shouldn't use our earlier disagreement as a leverage to have my way. Not then, and not in the future. I'm sorry.'

Sidon digested the words for a moment, much to Link's anxiety. Waiting for an answer was simply nerve-wrecking; it made him second-guess his word choices and wonder if he somehow managed to stuff his foot in his mouth again. It wouldn't have surprised him in the least.

"Does this mean you've reconsidered your original stance on the matter?" Sidon asked slowly. Link gave him a questioning look. "About keeping me around, I mean. If you didn't need a translator any longer, would you leave me behind for my own good? Oh! Apology accepted."

That was a tough question. Link was immensely relieved to be back on Sidon's good graces, but he could have done without another debate.

'Not sure', he signed honestly. 'You're doing fine now, but what of when the fish rations are gone? I worry. I can't make you go back against your will, though.'

Sidon chuckled and shook his head. "I see. I haven't changed my mind either. We have to agree to disagree, then."

The Zora sobered. "I do, however, want to come to a consensus about your communication situation, as you put it. You were absolutely right to get angry at me earlier, and I can't apologize enough for it. I'm very sorry for silencing you against your will. You were right that it doesn't matter what my opinion about a situation is; as your only means of communication, it is my duty to deliver your words for you. Even if I think you're being rude or disagree with your words, you still have the right to say them."

Link stared. It was… strange to be validated like that. No conditions about manners or anything else, no demands for him to get a grip and start talking to strangers, no anything. Just simple acceptance and apology. Even Zelda hadn't managed that; though, to be fair, she was working hard on unlearning the bad example her father been to her but still had ways to go.

His eyes may or may not have felt just a little moist, but as long as no tears were actually shed he could merrily deny it happening in order to keep his composure.

'Thank you', Link signed with a brittle smile, 'And apology accepted.'

Sidon's smile was soft and Link could have stared into his gentle eyes forever. "I'm glad. I have to admit that when you explained your selective mutism to me way back when, I didn't truly grasp it. I simply thought I was special to hear your voice but failed to understand how much your condition affects your life. Everyone in the Domain understanding sign language made it seem like a non-issue. This trip has opened my eyes. I swear I will never use your silence against you or dismiss it again."

Link ducked his head and blinked furiously, trying his hardest to not cry, damn it. He didn't want to cry in the middle of a full inn. Not even when he was on the receiving end of such pure understanding and acceptance.

Sidon was silent for a moment, then spoke very softly: "Thank you for trusting me enough to vocalize to me so often lately. If you never talk to anyone else, that's fine. I'll be your voice for as long as you want me to be."

Yeah, okay, nope, now he was definitely crying. He buried his face in a napkin and just stayed like that, now concentrating on not sobbing or hiccupping or making any other "this person is obviously crying" -noises. He may be doing happy-emotional-possibly-overwhelmed tears in public, but he was damn sure not going to draw any more attention to it than he had to!

"Do you want me to pretend that… nothing out of the ordinary is going on?" Sidon asked, sounding deliberately casual. Link signed 'yes' immediately, not lifting his face.

"All right. The food is truly quite delicious. You should try the honey mead as soon as you're able. Ah, and the place is starting to empty out. I think the tunnels will be a lot busier by the time we're done here."

If Link wasn't already madly in love with Sidon, he would be falling right now for the sweet, supportive, and possibly unintentionally romantic Prince. As it was, he was simply falling harder.


	22. Should we try merging these?

Link eventually regained his composure, and they could finish their meal amicably. Sidon had been right: the honey mead was to die for. Link would have happily made it his plan to drink tonight away to enjoy the maximum amount of the stuff before they left, if only he didn't have other plans for the evening. That plan being finally coming clean to Sidon about his feelings, and hopefully then making out with him until the dawn. He had to be sober for it and that meant no more mead.

He would definitely come back here after their current odyssey was done, though. It would take months, but he could be patient when he wanted to be.

The fact that he now had a set deadline for his confession was not making him nervous at all, thank you very much. If he didn't actively think about it, at least. Which he didn't, because he wanted to be able to function properly and see the wonders of this town.

After they were finished with eating, they rented themselves a room and left most of their luggage there for the time being; they didn't feel like risking venturing out only to have more rain make their attempts at travel miserable, so they might as well stay here until tomorrow. Sidon also took the opportunity to sit down and stretch his abused back before their second trip to the town.

And off they were.

They visited every shop they saw, eagerly inspecting the Minish bits and bobs. It was curious how none of the shops sold any big people items, while in the previous towns they had been all over the place. Link supposed it was because they were getting deeper into the woods, which meant less big people traffic. Instead, they sold a lot pottery here; the abundance of clay was the obvious reason behind that peculiarity. The other towns had had mostly woodware, so it was a very cool change. The pottery was finely shaped and engraved with beautiful patterns and pictures, as was the custom in this town. Some items were even skillfully painted and glazed over. Zelda would absolutely love one particular set of dinner plates with intricate floral patterns that were carved in and then painted over, if only Link could afford to haul such heavy souvenirs around. Again, he would have to return here on a better time. With great reluctance he left them behind. Oddly enough, when he exited the shop and spared one last glance at the pots near the door, he felt a strong, almost primal urge to… smash them to bits. He almost returned inside to do it, but got a grip at the last second. Weird.

They entered the food shop next. The moment they stepped in Sidon came to a very abrupt halt.

"I feel… strange", he said, which instantly made Link worried. Did the frog meal disagree with Sidon? The mead? Was it the heat? The lack of humidity?

Sidon frowned and reached into his money pouch, much to Link's confusion. He rummaged around for a bit and finally pulled out the kinstone.

It was glowing brightly. Pulsing, even.

Sidon simply stared at it with a confused frown, which Link took to mean he didn't see the glow this time, either.

Then a Minish approached them, holding a similarly bright and pulsing piece of his own.

"Excuse me?" they asked timidly. "Are you perhaps feeling the same strange sensation as I am from my kinstone? Should we try merging these?"

Oh. This was interesting.

Sidon looked at the Minish in astonishment, then smiled brightly. The Minish flinched – presumably from seeing all those pointy shark teeth – but somehow refrained from fleeing like Link had half-expected.

"So that's what it was! Yes, let's do this!"

Sidon crouched down in an attempt to get to the Minish's level, but it hardly made a difference since most of Sidon's height came from his torso rather than his legs. They did manage to fit the pieces together, though.

It was a perfect fit and the halves magically merged together seamlessly. Link saw that the resulting coin had a picture of a four-leaf clover on it, but he only got to look at it for a second before the glow intensified and made it impossible to look directly at it. This time even Sidon and the Minish saw the glow, judging from the sudden squints and rapid blinking on their parts.

The now repaired coin freed itself from their grasp by lifting into the air on its own and spinning. It turned into pure light – as far as Link could observe anyway – and rose all the way into the ceiling and then went through it with a faint, and rather unfitting, ping-sound.

Link looked at Sidon, only to see him stare dazedly into nothing.

ooooo

Muzu exited the throne room with a sigh. The letterman had arrived but there hadn't been any correspondence from Prince Sidon today, either. It had already been a week and King Dorephan was starting to feel restless by the complete silence from his dear son. It shouldn't have taken the Prince and Link this long to reach either the Castle or Kakariko Village and send their first letter.

Had something happened? Muzu would have Link's head if he found out Prince Sidon had been injured in any way.

He grumbled to himself about useless Hylian Champions and made his way to the Royal Library to pick up a few reference books for his current project. Worried or not, he had work to do.

As soon as he entered, he heard a thud of a book falling from a shelf.

"Who's there?" he demanded, instantly wary of intruders. There weren't a whole lot of people who were allowed here, and since he knew where the King was and the Prince wasn't at the Domain, the list of possible allowed visitors was very short indeed.

Silence reigned and Muzu relaxed marginally. He looked around and soon spotted the fallen book. It was spread open haphazardly right next to a shelf, which meant it probably just fell on its own. Maybe it had been put back carelessly.

He grumbled to himself about careless princes and walked over to the book to pick it up. As he did, he glanced at the open page and halted.

"The Legend of the Picori" read the title of the page.

Weren't the Minish Woods and the Pico Pond right by one of the riverside routes to the Castle? He fondly remembered Prince Sidon going on and on about visiting the area and looking for the Picori once he was big enough to travel, back when he was but a youngling.

Muzu chuckled to himself and tucked the book under his arm. He would show it to King Dorephan.

He had a very good idea what may be the reason Prince Sidon was delayed so. They needn't be so worried after all; the Prince was stubborn and thorough and would probably comb the whole area before even considering giving up on the fairytale.

ooooo

Link breathed a sigh of relief when Sidon finally blinked rapidly and looked around with bewildered eyes. He was back from whatever head trip he just took.

"Wow, that was…" Sidon said, but was interrupted by the Minish.

"I have to go", they said with a big smile. "I need to buy a berry and go visit my nana. Thank you, mister! I hope you'll have some luck come your way!"

The Minish skittered off, leaving the two staring after them.

Link hadn't had the chance to ask them whether they saw the glow too or not. Damn. He looked at Sidon.

'What happened?'

Sidon shook his head, looking mystified. "I saw Muzu. A book dropped from a shelf, he picked it up, and then he looked happier. I haven't any clue what that was all about. Was it real?"

Link frowned thoughtfully. 'That Minish sure seemed to believe their vision, whatever it was. You're not missing memories as far as I know and you didn't mention seeing yourself, so it's not a recalled memory. And it's not like you can go drop a book for Muzu anytime soon, so it's probably not a hint for what you should do, either. Unless you heard a voice telling you stuff?'

"No voices except for Muzu's", Sidon said, looking at Link like he surely had all the answers. Ultimate trust. It made his heart skip a beat.

'Then my verdict is that the scene you saw happened just now', Link signed confidently. He rather thought himself an expert on this subject; what with all the visions he had had from multiple sources during his epic journey. 'It was probably important somehow, but I don't know how just yet.'

Sidon nodded enthusiastically. "I see! It's good to have a seasoned adventurer with me to tell me these things. I think I'll ask Muzu about it once we have the chance to send letters. Apparently the kinstones do work; just like you said!"

Link beamed proudly.

ooooo

They didn't buy any food yet; they wanted to wait and see if the frog legs kept Sidon's hunger at bay first, and then stock up if they did. They could buy frogspawn and tadpoles, too, for variety. This town's closeness to the mud lake was obvious in the food choices. Another interesting food was the fresh slugs that were sold in sizable chunks. The problem with them was that they didn't keep for long, so if he were to buy some he would have to cook it and eat it right away – at least according to the seller. He opted to try some at the inn later to save some time and hassle.

Eventually they arrived to a shop front that had reliefs of bees on it. Link was willing to bet good rupee that it was Hiveri's place. However, the door was locked and there was a note on it; in Minish, of course. That meant illegible as far as they were concerned.

They returned to the previous shop to ask the clerk about it.

"He must be at the hive", they said with a shiver, "You may want to just wait until he returns."

Link's hands were flying excitedly before the Minish even finished their sentence: 'Where is the hive?'

Sidon seemed very amused while the Minish seemed to question Link's sanity.

"I really can't recommend-", the Minish started, but gave in at Link's glare. "Fine. Okay. You know the three way crossroad? Good. Go right. Don't scream and run when you encounter the bees; just back away slowly. Also, you seem like the type to try to touch them. Don't."

Link felt mildly offended by the assumption, but he couldn't very well deny it without lying, so he supposed it was fair enough.

"Thank you for the directions and the advice", Sidon said, "I'll make sure we come back alive."

'Bold of you to assume your rationality is enough to keep my chaotic nature from getting us killed', Link signed with a wide smile once they were out of the shop.

Sidon laughed. "Oh no. I wouldn't dream of that. I'm counting on you not wishing to make a liar out of me."

Link joined in on the laughter. 'Cheating.'

They made their way back to crossroad, again, and Sidon's back was stuck on being bent once more. The second round seemed even more painful than the first, judging from the grimace on Sidon's face. He really needed that back rub later.

They took the right turn and warily made their way forward. The scratching they had heard before got louder and louder, and was joined by occasional buzzing. It was downright eerie and made the hair on the back of Link's neck stand up.

As if to balance the scary out, soon the sweet smell of honey reached their noses. It was even stronger than in Sweeteri's shop; Link got almost dizzy from it.

They turned around a corner and found themselves in another tall cavern. This one was packed with huge, hairy bumblebees that were crawling and flying all over the place like striped, six-legged bears. There was an enormous hive consisting of bulbous, brownish orange and bright yellow baskets on one end of the cavern, and pollen covered the whole place from floor to ceiling. The ceiling and the walls had tunnels that presumably led outside; there was a constant traffic of bumblebees coming in from some tunnels and going out of others.

The bumblebees were fuzzy and looked perfectly huggable; Link would bet their hair would feel soft and go great with his face.

"Link", Sidon said sternly; apparently his thoughts were plain on his face. "We were told not to touch them."

'But soft! Fuzzy!'

"Remember how you promised not to pull reckless stunts without discussing them with me first?" Sidon asked, trying and failing to hide his amusement in order to sound serious.

'Promised to try; not to always succeed. This is a discussion. Hugging a bee now, regretting it later.'

"Sweet Hylia. Link-"

"Excuse me? What are you doing in my hive?"

Link and Sidon simultaneously turned to look in the direction of the voice.

There stood a Minish who was covered from head to toe in pollen and honey. They were wearing a long sleeve work smock, a cap that went over their ears, and a pair of wooden shoes. That was the first pair of shoes Link had seen on any Minish.

This could be no-one other than Hiveri.


	23. May I hug a bee?

"Greetings", Sidon said with a smile. "You must be Hiveri? I'm Prince Sidon and this is Link. Pardon us if we're not supposed to be here. We're simply curious travelers who want to see everything you Minish have to offer."

Hiveri looked impressed. "Huh. You have manners, that's rare. Yes, I'm Hiveri. I'm sorry about my rude welcome; I don't get a lot of friendly visitors here. Mostly it's kids daring each other to come see the bees, and that's a hassle."

"Children do that", Sidon said with a chuckle.

'May I hug a bee?' Link asked. He considered himself very well mannered and responsible for not sneaking off to hug a bee while Sidon was distracted. Zelda would be so proud. ...At least if he left out the part where he seriously considered the mentioned alternative course of action first.

Hiveri looked at Link's hands at the same time Sidon did, and shook his head before Sidon had the time to say Link's words out loud. "No. They don't like that. I could, however, let you pet one of the more docile types."

Link blinked. Sidon openly gaped.

'Can you understand me?' Link asked disbelievingly. Sidon didn't translate it; he was just as keen as Link to hear the answer.

"Yes", Hiveri said with a smile, "Bumblebees don't understand speech, but they're game to learning a few signs. 'Course that's thanks to generations of continuous effort on the part of Hiveri successors."

'Wait. So most Minish don't understand me, but your bees do?' Link asked, unable to get over this bizarre turn of events. It even made his excitement over finding a Minish who understood him pale in comparison.

"I wouldn't say they really understand you", Hiveri corrected. "They only know a few signs that matter, such as stop, come here, stay, turn around, and so on. You can't have a conversation with them. They can't reply anyway. They can just obey the commands, and that's how I know they understand."

That was still better than most of the Minish, so Link refused to be anything but thoroughly impressed and proud on the bumblebees' behalf.

'May I pet one?' he asked, just now able to process the earlier words and realize he had been tossed a bone. He would have loved to hug one of the fuzzies, but simply petting one was still loads better than nothing.

Hiveri chuckled. "All right. We can try. Note that the bumblebee will have the last word, so don't be hasty."

Link nodded. He was generally good with animals, so he knew to heed Hiveri's words.

They approached the hive, and Sidon apparently couldn't hold his own questions in anymore.

"How is it that you have befriended bees in the first place? I know some Hylians keep bees, but as far as I know they don't actually communicate with them. I think they… lure them away from the nest? Or possibly scare them away? Either way, they make the bees leave the nest so they can collect the honey without getting stung."

Hiveri looked stunned, and then shook his head to clear it.

"That's insane", he said, and stopped a few feet away from the hive and its busy bumblebees. He took a deep breath and then extended a hand, palm forward, towards one bee. The bee turned his way after a moment, antennae wagging. Hiveri signed for it to come to him, and the bee did. It was amazing.

"Link, was it?" he asked, and Link nodded eagerly. "You can now try to pet this one. If it pulls away or starts to vibrate its wings, stop."

Link nodded again, solemnly. He stepped forward and the bumblebee turned to regard him with its huge compound eyes. Link noted that it also had three smaller eyes on its forehead; he hadn't known about that. It's not like he had had a chance to examine a bumblebee this closely before.

'I'm a friend', he signed, 'May I touch you?'

The bee did nothing. There was a high chance it didn't understand Link's words, but Link felt better for having tried. He slowly extended his hand towards it, coming in from the side but still well within its vision; as far as he knew anyway. The bee buzzed its wings once, but then went back to doing nothing. Link considered withdrawing, but the bee showed no further signs of distress so he resumed his actions and then found his hand buried in soft fur. The bee continued to allow his touch, so he grinned and slid his fingers through the fluffy goodness.

It was awesome. It was perfect.

"Now that that is going well, let's get back to your question", Hiveri said somewhere behind Link, obviously talking to Sidon.

"It's my family's aptitude. Getting along with bees, that is", Hiveri said. Link assumed Sidon made a confused face, as Hiveri continued after a brief pause: "All Minish have some degree of magic in their use. Most don't use it much because anything beyond big people repelling, speed bursts, and other mundane stuff requires lots of training under a teacher and that's costly. However, with proper training you can discover your special aptitude for some branch of magic. For some it's an element like fire, for others it's communicating with another species, for some it's a trade skill like forging, and for some it's blessing objects. There are a lot of possibilities. Aptitudes tend to run in families – especially the properly trained ones – so most Minish have some idea what their most likely aptitudes would be if they trained. If it's something they feel would be useful, they are more motivated to train. Like I said, my family's aptitude is bees and that's why all bees accept me easily and are willing to listen to me. When I beckoned that bumblebee Link is petting to me, I first reached out with magic to get it to notice me and be willing to see what I wanted. Other Minish aren't able to do that; except for the rest of my family, of course."

"That's fascinating! I wonder if that's just a Minish thing, or if big people have it, too, but don't realize it? My sister had healing powers that manifested since young age. I wonder if I would have the same skill if I received some training in magic."

Link frowned in thought while sliding a second hand into the bumblebee's silky fur. Sidon having Mipha's Grace was a strange thought, but he supposed it wasn't an unwelcome one. Healing was a very useful skill to have, and he suspected Sidon would view it as a gift from his sister, even if it was a hereditary trait he would have had independently of Mipha. It would make him happy regardless. To have a tangible connection to his sister.

Now that Link thought about it, all of the old Champions sans himself had had a supernatural skill. Mipha's Grace, Urbosa's Fury, Daruk's Protection, Revali's Gale, even Zelda's holy power. They had all taught themselves, but that didn't make the abilities something just anyone could learn. Maybe Sidon was onto something here.

It wasn't like Link had run into any professional mages on his travels. If that had been a thing, Zelda surely would have had a mentor or five after her mother passed so she would not have lost her only teacher in her. A mage mentor would have made unlocking her power much easier, one would think, even if her power might be different due to, uh, Goddess-ness. Perhaps magery was another forgotten tradition of the past, like the Sheikah technology. Maybe the Minish could help the big people with it now that the communication route was open once again. It would be worth looking into, although not on this particular trip. Not extensively anyway. They still had their own, more immediate goals.

Link realized he had completely missed the rest of that conversation due to his own musings. Sidon and Hiveri were talking about the bees again.

Oh well. He could ask Sidon later.

Link checked the bee's mood and, upon finding it as uncaring as before, buried his face in the fur.

The next roughly three seconds were a bliss of soft – oh so soft – fluff on his face and under his palms… But then there was a distinctly angry sounding buzz combined with a curious vibration, and he was roughly yanked away from his perfect face pillow.

The bumblebee launched off instantly. Link turned to look at the person holding him by the back of his leaf dress, and saw Hiveri giving him a stern look.

"I told you not to hug it."

Link gave a sheepish smile. 'My arms weren't around it. Technically not a-' Glare. 'I'm bad at impulse control. I'm sorry.'

Hiveri glared at him for a moment longer, and then let go of him with an amused sigh. "Okay then. I understand the temptation, so I can't blame you too much. Just don't do it again."

Link saluted solemnly. Behind Hiveri, Sidon was shaking his head exasperatedly.

Link couldn't wait to tell Zelda that he had hugged a bee. She would be so jealous.

ooooo

They spent almost an hour in the Hive. Sidon watched Hiveri collect honey and pollen into pots, and Link got to pet another bumblebee. He didn't hug it this time, and it stayed with him for a good long while because of it. It was great.

After Hiveri was done working they walked back to his shop with him. Link carried a couple of honey pots to make up for the bee hugging. He had to exert an unreasonable amount of willpower into not randomly smashing them, for some reason. At times like these he could swear he was channeling some nutty ancestor of his or something.

The shop was similar to Sweeteri's: lots of different honey candy and honeyed nuts. But unlike Sweeteri, Hiveri also sold plain honey, flavoured honey, and pollen nuggets. Link got to try a nugget, and honestly found it kind of gross; the mouth-feel made him think of the Gerudo Desert, and sandy things weren't something he wanted in his mouth. They didn't buy anything, seeing how they still had honey candy left and hauling around pots of honey wasn't practical.

Hiveri's shop had been the last one left, so they decided to call it an early night. They went back to the inn and ate dinner. Link tried the slug, and it was quite possibly the best non-dessert he had eaten in the Minish cities. The flavour was a delight and the firm yet tender texture was superb. It was different from the sea snails he sometimes ate, and he had a feeling it was because he had bigger and stronger jaws as a big person. So it would stay a Minish specialty dish.

Sidon ate tadpole with the side of frog spawn. He had declared that the previous meal had managed to keep his hunger more or less at bay, so frog was now considered acceptable fish substitute. They would stock up on it tomorrow; the food shop had sold dried frog legs and jarred frog spawn, so they didn't even need to preserve it themselves.

After the meal they retreated into their room. Much to their delight, the staff had brought in another bed and aligned it with the end of the one that had already been in their room, making for a longer bed that could accommodate Sidon's height. Sidon lied down with a sigh and stretched his abused back with relish.

"This will be nice. Having a fitting bed is only second to sleeping in the water", he said.

Link nodded with a smile. He set down his sword and removed most of his clothes. Said clothes had honey and pollen stains on them, and he doubted they could be removed; a leaf wouldn't be able to take much of a washing. Maybe he'd get another set at the capital.

Sidon reluctantly got up to undress as well, but laid back down the instant he was unclothed. Link watched him from the corner of his eye, starting to feel a bit nervous. This was it. Or soon anyway.

First things first, though.

"Roll around", Link said quietly, "On your stomach."

Sidon gave him a questioning look, but did as asked. Link walked up to the bed and stretched his fingers, more to announce his intentions than out of any actual need to do it. Sidon chuckled and adjusted his position slightly, turning his head to its side to keep his tail off his back and out of the way.

"My posture looked about as painful as it felt, I take it?" he asked.

Link nodded seriously, and then set to work. He started with the lower back, since it was probably in the worst shape. He applied light pressure at first, getting the feel of things, and soon found that he needed considerably more force to have any chance of massaging the well defined muscles under the surprisingly tough scale barrier. But once he found the right amount of pressure, he had Sidon groaning appreciatively in a matter of moments.

"Every reckless action you've committed during our trip is hereby forgiven and forgotten", Sidon sighed, much to Link's amusement.

"I'll make sure to remind you of that, should the need arise", he replied. He had progressed almost up to Sidon's shoulders and his fingers were getting stiff from the workout. He couldn't understand how professional masseuse could do this all day. However, getting to have his hands over Sidon's vast, vast back more than made up for it. He hadn't realized just how muscular said back actually was, despite having hugged him more than his fair share.

Sidon turned his head to rest his tail on the other side – he was probably getting a bit uncomfortable with the position – and Link got started with his shoulders. He was not surprised by the muscles, or the stiffness, this time. He was well aware of the delicious musculature of Sidon's broad shoulders; he had spent plenty of time getting distracted by them at random times. Also, he had thoroughly familiarized himself with Sidon's neck for the past couple of nights, and one couldn't do that without also feeling around the shoulders said neck was attached to. And Link loved these shoulders.

Speaking of love.

Link swallowed nervously as he finished the massage. He shook the worst of the stiffness from his fingers and felt thankful about his recent progress in vocalizing to Sidon whenever they were alone; he would much rather talk than sign right now.

"I'm done", he said, and Sidon immediately stretched languidly and turned to lie on his back with a restful smile.

"Thank you very much", Sidon said, "You're truly the best."

Link nodded, and his nervousness must have shown as Sidon's smile dropped in favour of a worried frown. "Is something the matter?"

Link shrugged helplessly, and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Depends. There is something we need to talk about."

This was it.


	24. Wait, what? Multiple whats

Something in Sidon's expression was off. Link had expected polite inquiry or maybe another worried frown, but Sidon looked… expectant. Like he already knew what Link wanted to talk about and was simply waiting for him to get on with it. It made Link unreasonably anxious. What if Sidon already knew and was bracing himself for unwanted news? What if he was expecting something different?

The expression softened after a moment. Link probably looked bewildered or nervous or both. He certainly felt that way.

"Please don't hesitate, Link", Sidon said, and sat up. He scooted over to sit next to Link. Was Link imagining it or was Sidon sitting unusually close to him? "You can talk to me about anything at all."

...That was very similar to what Zelda had said right before Link came out to her, and she hadn't been terribly surprised in the end. Had he come out to Sidon at any point? He thought he had, but now he wasn't sure anymore. Was that what Sidon was expecting now? Well, it hardly mattered if it turned out he hadn't come out; that detail would go more or less without saying with what he was actually going to tell, so it was a moot point now.

Yes, he was stalling.

Hylia give him strength.

"I think I'm in love with you", he said, surprising himself with how bluntly and naturally it came out. He had meant to be a bit more tactful and careful about it, but he really should have known himself better than to assume that was going to happen. Well, in for a green rupee… "I'd gotten a big crush on you the moment we met, or sometime within my first visit in the Domain anyway. It hasn't wavered during all this time – in fact, I believe it's grown steadier – and I think that's how you know it's real."

That was surprisingly easy. Shockingly so. He felt immensely relieved for having gotten it out in the open, too. Why hadn't he done this earlier?

...Oh, right. Sidon would get his say about this next. Needless to say, the nervousness came back with revenge. Why was he doing this instead of keeping quiet forever?

Link looked up at Sidon, only now realizing he had been staring at his tightly clenched hands until that moment. Damn, he should have looked deeply into Sidon's eyes during his confession. At least he thought that was how it was supposed to go; romance novels said so, and they would know best. If Sidon didn't return his feelings by the end of this conversation, he would blame it on that blunder alone. It might make him feel better about it.

Sidon looked like one of the rocks Link had used Stasis on that was one second away from its release: completely unmoving and straight backed, his lips were pressed into a tight line, and he was barely even breathing. Or alternatively he was a very handsome statue; one that would fit in perfectly in the city they were visiting. Either way, he was clearly holding something back with all his might, and Link was quickly going insane with the lack of answers. He was willing to bet that Sidon would have already said something had he gazed into his eyes during his confession, damn it.

"Does that-", Sidon started with a strangled voice, then cleared his throat and began anew. "Does that mean you're officially asking to court me?"

Link wanted to scream. That was such a non-answer! Couldn't Sidon just tell him if he had a chance before he dug himself deeper? Apparently not. Fine then. Time to take out the shovel.

"Yes", he said simply, and proceeded to literally hold his breath while waiting for the answer. There would be an answer this time, right?

For about two seconds, there was silence. Then...

"YES!" Sidon yelled, which startled the held breath out of Link. Then Sidon stood up and did a… bizarre little victory dance? He bumped his head on the ceiling, too, despite the perfectly acceptable height of the room.

Link stared; brain completely empty of any rational thought. What in the name of Hylia?

Sidon stopped his dancing and turned to beam at Link. His smile was the most radiant it had ever been and caused Link's heart to skip a beat or two. And here he had thought Sidon couldn't get any more gorgeous than he already was.

"Finally! I've been waiting for this for a while now!" Sidon said. "To be fair, I only secretly wished for it for the longest time without feeling very hopeful about it, but ever since that incident on the big people road I've been feeling increasingly more confident about it."

Wait, what? Multiple whats. Firstly, Sidon had been wishing for this and Link hadn't had a clue? Second, Sidon knew what was up this whole time? And didn't say anything? Third – or fourth; did that last one count as a separate question? – did that mean Sidon's answer was "yes"? Finally, was it normal to want to strangle your hopefully-soon-boyfriend because of their inaction despite apparently knowing about his feelings?

Link's thoughts must have been clear as day on his face, as Sidon stopped smiling and looked sheepish instead.

"You must pardon me, but I have to confess something", Sidon said, and sat down next to Link, again. This time Link was certain he was sitting particularly close; their thighs were touching. He would have felt happier about it if he wasn't already feeling nervous, confused, and kinda mad, which currently took up all of his available feelings capacity. "I've actually been aware of your intentions for a while now and I've shamelessly exploited them."

Link gave him a blank look. He was officially lost now. He was pretty sure he hadn't been exploited in any way, shape or form; anything he had done or given had been knowingly and deliberately.

"I have been playing clueless when I've, in fact, had a rough idea of what's been going on", Sidon elaborated. "It begun when we crossed the big people road and you tackled me. I admittedly didn't understand right then, but when we were looking for the camp afterwards and I had the time to think… By the time I asked for a repeat performance, I already had a conviction. I didn't know the exact meaning of your actions – I still don't – but I knew it couldn't be simple friendship. I understand there are cultural differences, but I doubt friends are so intimately tactile anywhere. And regardless of other people, the two us certainly haven't been that close before so I knew it had to be a sign. However, I feigned complete ignorance in order to give you a convenient out if you needed it, and an easy bait if you wanted it. And, of course, because I liked it and wanted you to continue. That's where I feel like I exploited your feelings; I asked you to continue for the sake of my own enjoyment while intentionally leaving you in the dark."

Link had certainly taken the bait. He had seized it with both hands, shoved it down his throat with haste, and choked on it a little while swallowing it whole. In his opinion, however, there had been no exploitation whatsoever when one wanted it as much as Link did. Or at least the exploitation had been mutual; Link had decided to pursue his own enjoyment while thinking Sidon had the wrong idea, just because he was selfish. They were equally guilty or guiltless, and that made it okay in Link's humble opinion.

"Your actions since then have more than proven my supposition correct", Sidon said, taking Link's silence for an encouragement to continue. He wasn't wrong. "It was an agony to wait for you to muster up the courage to say something, but I had no other choice. I wanted to take the initiative as soon as I was certain we felt the same, but you were once the person my sister wanted to marry. It would have been improper of me to start courting you."

Oh. Oh, damn. That's right, Mipha had prepared the Zora Armor as a proposal present. Link still didn't know what he had felt for Mipha way back when, but she had had every intention to marry him had he been amenable. That would make dating her little brother just a bit awkward, if not completely crass, now wouldn't it? Link had thought about it a bunch when his feelings were still new, but he had eventually dismissed the concern for the most part. She was dead; she didn't get to limit his love life posthumously. Especially since he didn't know if he even had returned her feelings.

It seemed things weren't as simple on Sidon's end.

"But there is a loophole", Sidon said, his smile back in place. "I'm not supposed to court you, but you have no such restrains. If you're the one approaching me, I'm free to reciprocate. So, I waited and tried to subtly encourage you. Now that you formally took the initiative, I am free to shower you with all the affection I want."

He waved his hands around as he talked, but set them down in his lap once he was done; clearly a signal for Link to take it from there and establish their relationship once and for all.

Sidon's speech certainly explained and maybe even excused his actions; although a little heads up would have been nice so that Link could have acted earlier. Hadn't Sidon said that he had "secretly wished for it for the longest time"? They could have been together for Hylia knows how long if Link had been a little more observant or Sidon had given him a clear hint to work with.

Well, he couldn't change the past. ...Except for one little thing that was more immediate and thus perfectly retconnable.

"Now that we're on the same page, I want to redo this", Link said, and stood up, cool as a cucumber. He no longer felt nervous. Already knowing his feelings were returned gave a big boost in confidence for sure.

Sidon looked hilariously confused and a bit alarmed. "What?"

Link grinned mischievously and walked over to the door. There he did a little spin and turned to face a very baffled Sidon with a serious expression.

"Sidon. There is something we need to talk about."

He waited. Sidon stared at him with incomprehension for a moment, and then slowly nodded. He didn't seem to quite know what was going on, but he was willing to play along anyway. Link loved him all the more for it. "All right. What is on your mind? You can talk to me about anything at all."

Link gave him a small smile and walked over. He sat down next to Sidon, on his previous spot, and turned to look at him. He smiled up at his friend and gently took a hold of his closest hand with both of his own and caressed the back of it with his thumbs. Sidon's eyes widened momentarily as he clearly realized what Link was up to, and then a half amused and half charmed smile rose to his lips.

This was more like it.

"I'm in love with you", Link said softly but confidently, gazing deeply into Sidon's warm eyes. "Will you allow me to court you, and be my boyfriend?"

This was the version he would tell Zelda and anyone else who asked.

"It would be an honour to be your boyfriend", Sidon answered, visibly trying to reign in his enthusiasm in order to treat this moment as seriously as Link was. "You are allowed to court me. I'm completely smitten by you already, so would you consider skipping further formalities and going straight to the part where I get to shower you with love?"

Wow. Sidon hadn't been kidding about his want or ability to take the initiative. He was apparently tired of waiting, too. Link was okay with that.

He was extremely okay with that.

Link nodded, let go of Sidon's hand, and stood up on the bed. Sidon watched curiously, hands hovering near Link; probably so that he was ready to catch him if he stumbled on his rather unsteady platform. Link took a step closer to Sidon, grabbed a tender hold of his cheeks, and kissed him right on the lips.

Link could feel Sidon flinch – presumably in surprise – before his mouth softened and hesitantly played along with the gentle movement of lips sliding against lips. Link was pretty sure Zora didn't typically kiss; that much had been implied by Sidon's earlier words on the subject of their neck kissing. He smiled for a second in simple adoration, and then dove right back into the kiss. He tilted his head slightly for better access and moved one hand to the back of Sidon's neck with a content sigh. He had been dreaming of this moment forever, and it was everything he had hoped for. Especially when Sidon wrapped his arms around Link's waist and pulled him into his lap for maximum closeness.

Everything he had hoped for and more. Completely worth the wait.

Link kissed Sidon until he had his fill, or at least enough to tide him over for a while, and reluctantly pulled back. Sidon had been a very fast learner and Link was more than satisfied with his skills, although he may be a little biased because he was thoroughly smitten with the Zora. Sidon, too, apparently found the activity to his liking; Link had to lean back further than he initially thought, as Sidon eagerly chased his lips until he noticed that Link meant to stop. He looked so put out by it, too, and it was absolutely adorable. Link kissed the pink spot under Sidon's crest in apology.

"I merely want to wash up and lay down", Link said with a big smile. "We can make out for the rest of the night after that for all I care."

Or for the rest of their lives. Either way, a few minutes break wasn't a big deal now that the first step had been taken.

The night ended up being very enjoyable indeed.


	25. Is it true you can summon the rain?

Link woke up later than usual. It had a lot to do with the fact that he had spent a long time last night making out and cuddling with Sidon. Ten out of ten, he would do it again as soon as he had the opportunity; maybe even sooner.

"Good morning, my coral reef", Sidon said, and nuzzled the top of Link's head.

Okay, as lovely as the general situation was, apparently they needed to talk.

"Morning. No pet names", Link answered, and hoisted himself up to his elbows to look at Sidon. Sidon's brilliant smile dimmed the moment Link's message reached its intended destination.

"What? Why?"

"I don't like them."

Sidon looked crestfallen, and Link felt instantly guilty. Was it that important to Sidon? Ugh… All right. Maybe he could compromise. A little.

"Okay. Fine. You get one pet name and then you stick to it. I have the right to veto it", he said, and Sidon's smile was instantly back.

"Splendid! How about… my jewel?"

"No. No gemstones. Or flowers."

"I see. Little trout?"

"No little anything."

"Oh, I'm sorry. My hero?"

Link shuddered. "Absolutely not."

"I take it 'my knight' is also out, then. My warrior?"

"...Maybe."

"Oh, progress! Hmm… How about… my mighty Lynel slayer?

Link snorted. "I approve in theory, but it's a bit of a mouthful."

Sidon chuckled. "Perhaps you're right. Honey candy?"

"Maybe."

"That's two maybes already! ...Wildberry?"

Something about the 'wild' really resonated with him. He nodded decisively. Sidon beamed.

"Wildberry it is! It's a lovely pet name, too. I'll be happy to call you that", Sidon gushed, and then hugged Link a little too tightly in his enthusiasm.

Link could get used to this. And if Zelda laughed at his pet name, he would stop vocalizing to her until she was adequately sorry.

ooooo

Eventually the two of them packed up, ate a hearty brunch, and left the inn. They stopped by the food shop and bought as many frog legs and as much frogspawn as was reasonable, and got a green kinstone as a part of the deal. Sidon was excited to have a new one, since he had already merged his first one.

He was considerably less excited about their trip back to the cramped tunnel. They went through that part as quickly as they could to spare Sidon the back pain; it was easy now that they knew the route.

Once they were on the ground level once more, they saw they had been wise to stay in the city for the night: the hill the city was on was practically surrounded by water. It had clearly been raining the whole night, if not the whole day, and as such it would have been impossible to travel. Today, though, the sky was clear.

They should be able to reach the capital well within the day, too.

With much cheer and holding hands – which was half weird and half absolutely natural – they continued their journey.

ooooo

The way to the city was rather uneventful. They walked a well-worn path, swam over a few puddles – much to Sidon's delight – and stopped by a crowded camp for a meal. Said camp was hidden in a large flower patch, and was both a resting spot for travelers and a popular camping spot for the people who lived in the capital. Apparently there was a regularly scheduled mouse cart that took people to the camp and back at certain times to halve the otherwise four-hour trip, and to make crossing the big people road safer. Luck was not on their side, however, as the cart back had left a little before they arrived, so the next one was hours away and not worth waiting for. They might be able to catch the other one that went towards the Lost Woods once they reached the city, though. It was an exciting prospect.

They walked the Minish path on this side of the road and then cautiously started crossing the big people road. They had been told that it could be crossed at any time here, as big people were rare this far into the woods. They were a bit – a lot in Link's case – anxious about it, but unwilling to wait until the nightfall when they had been told it was unnecessary.

As they were nearing the city, they actually saw the mouse cart heading back to the camp. It looked more or less the same as the big people carts that were used to transport people, except there were two mice pulling it instead of horses. A Minish wearing an official looking uniform was steering it, and Link saw him do the same hand gesture Hiveri had used to communicate with his bees when the mice became restless as they were passing him and Sidon. So this person was a mage with an aptitude to mice, he figured. Neat.

It was shortly after that encounter that they were finally on the other side, and soon after that they saw the capital city ahead of them. It consisted of two parts: the inner, old city was nestled between huge rocks and partially canopied by big leaves, and the new, outer city flourished on the outside of the rocks underneath more of the same big leaves. Of course they couldn't see the inner city from their vantage point, but the outer city alone was huge. They picked up their pace eagerly.

There was an actual paved road leading to the city, with a few lantern posts lighting the way for anyone traveling after the sunset. It was downright luxurious. It got even more so once they reached the city itself: there were paved roads leading to every house and every recreational area, lanterns everywhere, decorative floral arrangements hanging from said lanterns, and most of the houses looked sturdier than the majority of the big people houses Link had seen on his travels. Some of the roads had decorative tiles every now and then. Link assumed they were made in the previous city; at least the floral patterns looked very familiar.

The local Minish surrounded them instantly.

"Are you the big people everyone talks about?"

"They say you're half-fish!"

"Wanna try merging kinstones?"

"Is it true you can summon the rain?"

"You're shorter than I thought!"

"Want to go out with me?"

"I can show you the city!"

"Can I-"

"Enough, please!" Sidon said with all his princely authority, just as Link was starting to get overwhelmed and was itching to go for his sword to resolve the situation in the quickest possible manner. Needless to say, Link forgot about the sword in favour of ogling his absurdly attractive, assertive boyfriend. Sweet Hylia.

The Minish quieted down in shock and awe. Possibly out of politeness, too.

"We're here as visitors only, and will not be granting anyone anything or answer any unsolicited questions", Sidon said, and the way he said it sounded rehearsed; he probably used the phrase a lot during whatever royal visits he did within the Domain. Link idly wondered if the "we" referred to the two of them, or if it was the royal we. Not that it really mattered. "If you could kindly show us the way to your leader, we would appreciate it."

Did Link already mention how attractive Sidon was when he took charge? Because he was damn attractive when he took charge.

The Minish looked at each other, then one stepped forward and pointed a finger towards a gap between the rocks. "Gentari's office is in the old city, in the city hall. You'll know it when you see it, or you can ask someone over there for more directions."

Sidon smiled widely, and a couple of Minish took a shocked step back. "Thank you very much."

The two of them walked past the Minish, and as soon as they were out of sight Link patted Sidon's arm.

'Lean down here', he signed, and then gave Sidon a big kiss, even daring to linger for a moment. It was the best thing ever to be able to simply do that now, and he hoped it'd never lose its thrill. He smiled widely. 'Being in command suits you.'

Sidon beamed, even if he also rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. "Thank you, Wildberry."

Link blushed a little, and chuckled. He was so in love with this man that it was absolutely ridiculous.

ooooo

The old city was magnificent from the very start. The rock gateway they used – there were supposedly more on the other sides – had huge full body reliefs of some impressive looking Minish on both sides. On the right was an elderly Minish with a floor-length beard and hair, full robes, and a staff with a bird's head on top. His stance spoke of power, wisdom and dignity. On the left was a younger, somehow slightly Hylian looking Minish wearing regular Hylian-style clothing, a cape, and a hat with a gem on it. Link assumed that one to be male, too, because their Hylian-like looks instinctively gave him that impression. Anyway, his stance radiated power, confidence and fearlessness.

"I wonder who they are", Sidon said with awe, craning his neck with Link to gaze at the amazing statues. Upon further inspection the reliefs looked downright ancient, just really well taken care of. Maybe they were deities? Or the people who founded this city?

'We can ask this Gentari person', Link signed, and Sidon agreed. With some reluctance they moved on. There was more to see and people to talk to, after all.

The inner city was partially carved into the surrounding rocks, with some regular buildings in the free space between the rocks. The regular buildings were more or less the same as the ones outside, so Link focused on the rocks. There were doors and windows and even balconies jutting out of the stone everywhere he looked, indicating that the rocks were hosting countless houses and possibly even shops within. He couldn't tell if just the outer layer was used or if the rocks were entirely hollowed out for the use of the Minish. The thought of the latter was mind-boggling and made his respect for the Minish rise considerably; he had thought only Gorons were stubborn enough to do that.

A hollowed out rock sounded a little dangerous, though. What if a big person sat on it? Especially someone heavy, like a Goron? Wouldn't it just... break, and crush everyone inside?

He thought about his travels within the forest as a big person but could only hazily recall seeing this particular rock before. It had felt… wholly boring and unremarkable to him, and he had passed right by it without even considering climbing on it to scout his surroundings like usual. Huh. ...Right, hadn't Slateri or someone mentioned that the Minish magically repelled big people when they convened? That would be it. He wondered if he could pay closer attention to it now that he knew, as a big person. Although it would probably scare the Minish if he were to walk too close and even more so if he looked at them directly. But he was so curious! So, to be responsible or to satisfy his curiosity? ...That was a dilemma for when it was actually relevant, though.

In the inner city all of the pavement consisted of tiles that were carved, painted, or both, and there were lamp posts everywhere. There were even more floral decorations here than there had been outside, possibly as a compensation for the lack of live greenery. Also, there were so many Minish buzzing about that Link held onto Sidon's hand tightly just to avoid getting separated in the crowd. Scouting for shops or the city hall was impossible for him in this crowd, so he hoped the much taller Zora had better luck.

"Oh, that must be it!" Sidon said enthusiastically, right on cue. He pulled Link forward, and soon enough they were in front of a building that seemed more like a set than an actual building. It was wooden and impressive and official looking, but so flat against the rock that the actual insides just had to be carved into the rock or the Minish working there had to be the skinniest people in existence.

Well, this was certainly a good way to get acquainted with this city's architecture.

They looked at each other, and let themselves in, bursting with curiosity and hoping to find a good few answers here.


	26. A bad feeling? What is it?

Link had been right: practically as soon as they opened the door to the city hall, they were face to face with a stone wall that had an opening on it. Granted, the tiny room before the tunnel had a couple of flower pots in it, as well as a map on the wall next to the tunnel opening, but that was literally all there was. The rest of the building was inside the rock and didn't bother to pretend to be anything else.

"This is… new", Sidon said, looking around with more bafflement than Link thought necessary. Hadn't the front of the building given him a warning? Maybe Link was simply more used to spotting oddities, thanks to the shrines, the Koroks, and his general curiosity. How many hidden chests or weapons would he have missed if he wasn't good at noticing things that were off? Way too many.

He walked over to the map and sighed in mild frustration: all of the helpful text in it was in Minish, unsurprisingly and quite obviously. Oh well, he hadn't really expected anything different. At least he could try to memorize the layout and avoid getting lost; the damn place was huge and labyrinth-like, according to the map. They would need all the help they could get.

Sidon joined him, easily looking over his head at the map. "I really think I want to learn to read Minish one day. It's unsettling to not understand a single written word of a language. Before this, the only commonly spoken language I was completely incapable of understanding was Gerudo, and there's a good reason for that. Namely, my being male."

Wait, Sidon had demonstrated his skills in Rito, Goron, and Lizalfos before – Link still had trouble with thinking of that one as an actual language – but did this mean he spoke Sheikah, too? Or did it not count as a "commonly spoken language", since the Sheikah were small in numbers?

"The map itself is helpful in any case", Sidon said, and grinned at Link. "We'll simply have to ask someone for further directions. Shall we?"

Link figured he'd ask about the linguistics some other time. He smiled and nodded, and then they entered the tunnel. Thankfully it was wide and tall, so this time around Sidon didn't have to crouch at all. He did have to watch his dorsal fin, but that was comparably a minor problem. As for the tunnel itself, it was curious looking; Link had seen his fair share of Goron-made tunnels, which had been made with bare Goron fists for the most part, but this one looked… smoother. Obviously it hadn't been made by Gorons, so the Minish had to have used tools like mining picks for it. But even so, the smoothness was downright unnatural. Magic? Or simply centuries or more of constant use? He couldn't even guess which one.

They walked ahead and soon there was a door on their left. It had a label on it, but that was even less useful than the map had been. Regardless, they knocked and were bid to enter.

"Excuse me?" Sidon asked politely, addressing the surprised looking Minish inside. "We are looking for someone called Gentari. Could you tell us where we ought to go? We cannot read Minish."

Link looked around curiously, and was mildly disappointed by how boring and plain the room was; it contained simply a work desk, a shelf with books and papers, and a potted plant. This Minish had exactly the kind of job Link would rather die than be shackled to.

"Chief Gentari? Down the hall, then go right, up the stairs and… uh… I think fourth door on the left? Possibly fifth. I haven't had to think about it before. I mean, I can just read the names on the doors."

Link had to give it to this Minish: after the initial surprise, they had apparently just accepted this was the reality now and rolled with it smoothly without bothering to question anything. Whether this was their personality or came with whatever their job was, Link would never know. He remained impressed regardless.

"Thank you very much!"

They followed the instructions carefully, even though at times it took all of their combined willpower to not get distracted. One impressive set of doors had Sidon convinced there had to be a library behind it, and talking him out of going there took a moment; the fact that he wouldn't be able to read a single thing helped. Some very strange noises coming from behind another door had Link curious beyond belief and Sidon had to practically drag him away from it; Link still maintained that one little peek inside wouldn't have hurt or cost them any time at all. And they were both tempted to chat up a line of Minish who were wearing colourful cloth robes; the only reason they didn't was the fact that the Minish seemed to be concentrating hard on something, and they didn't want to distract them from whatever it was. The irony of the fact that they avoided getting distracted because they didn't want to distract others wasn't lost on Link.

Eventually, they were upstairs and contemplating between the two doors the helpful Minish downstairs had mentioned. The doors weren't identical, but they also gave no hints as to what or who to expect on the other side. Link and Sidon looked at each other, shrugged, and knocked on the first one, for the lack of better options.

"Come in!"

They entered, and saw that the room was bigger than the one they had briefly visited downstairs. Each wall was covered by floor to ceiling bookshelves crammed full with books, scrolls, folders, and random old looking items. There were two work desks that were piled high with even more books and open scrolls, and behind one sat a Minish who put down a magnifier and a scroll to give the two of them their full attention. The Minish gasped, stood up, and then actually jumped over their work desk – almost toppling over a pile of books – and landed in front of the shocked pair.

"You're the big people who shrank!" the Minish yelled in excitement. "I hoped I'd get to meet you! Oh, lucky day!"

Link kind of doubted this Minish was the one they were looking for.

"I'm Histori, nice to meet you!" the Minish said, confirming Link's suspicion. "Now, please tell me- Oh, wait a second!"

Histori ran back to their desk, grabbed a notebook and a pencil, and then ran back to the pair. Link was starting to think this Minish was a few cuckoos short of a flock.

"Please tell me everything that has happened to you from the moment you shrank to this very moment", Histori said, and got ready to write.

...Right. Link elbowed Sidon, who was simply gaping in complete confusion.

'We're not telling our life stories to this person', he signed. 'Try to get some sense into this situation, please.'

Sidon collected himself, and cleared his throat. "I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you, Miss Histori, but we're looking for Gentari. We unfortunately don't have the time to regale our adventures to you right this moment."

Histori blinked rapidly a few times, then sighed in deep disappointment. "I see. There is never the time to record history as it happens. Its destiny is to always be gathered afterwards, second-hand, through the filters of time, cooled trails and witness reports. We historians always have to battle hyperbole, assumptions, and flawed points of view."

Link and Sidon looked at each other awkwardly. It seemed they had unknowingly hit a sore spot. A very strange and specific sore spot.

"We're truly sorry", Sidon said quietly, and Link had the sinking feeling they would be spending a few hours today to tell their tale after all; at some point anyway.

Speaking of their travels, Link suddenly realized something he should have found odd the moment they entered this city: how did these people know about them before they even arrived? They had been traveling rather quickly, and there had been that rain to stop anyone else from the previous city from reasonably reaching this one before them. None of their previous stops had been aware of their existence before they were there, so it wasn't likely that someone from Stable Town had been traveling ahead of them this whole time or anything. Something wasn't adding up.

"Gentari is at behind the next door", Histori said listlessly and walked over to her own door to hold it open for them.

Link looked at Sidon, but instead of getting to exchange pitying glances with him, he saw his boyfriend's expression go from thoughtful to resolute. He knew what Sidon was going to say next. Damn it.

"Wait", Sidon said, and Link just sighed quietly. "We really want to see Gentari now, but we could tell you our story later, if you'd-"

"Yes!" Histori cried, all happy and hyper again, like her small depressed moment hadn't even happened. Had she been faking it to get them to give in? "I'll wait here for you to finish talking to him and then we can record history and, oh, we should go see my sister Librari, she's in charge of both the Capital Library and the Hero Museum, I bet you would be interested in that, seeing how you're big people, and then-"

Link snapped his fingers loudly a couple of times, and was rewarded by blessed silence. He looked at Sidon. 'Gentari now. Rambling Histori later. I have a bad feeling about something.'

Sidon looked chiding at first, then surprised, and finally concerned. "I see. Pardon Link's lack of manners, but we really do need to go now. We will return soon. It was nice meeting you."

They exited before Histori could hold them up any longer. Sidon waited until the door closed behind them, and then looked at Link. "A bad feeling? What is it?"

Link frowned. 'These people were expecting us. How? Who told them?'

Sidon didn't look half as concerned as Link though the situation merited. "That's all? I don't see how that is an issue. Maybe someone traveled ahead of us or the Chief has a method of communicating with the other towns and cities."

'I doubt that. News traveling ahead of you unexpectedly is never a good thing or a coincidence. I bet it was… the Vaatians. There's probably an ambush awaiting us at some spot.'

"The Vaatians? We haven't even encountered any of them-"

'That we know of.'

"Fair. But still, what would they gain by letting everyone know? Wouldn't it be better to keep quiet so that we wouldn't suspect anything?"

That… was a good point. Link was still convinced of his newly hatched theory, but Sidon was right. Why announce their presence to everyone? What was the motive?

Sidon placed a hand on Link's shoulder. "Link. There is no use speculating right this moment. We can simply ask Gentari for insight first. Maybe he has the answers."

Another good point. Link nodded, and they knocked on the door. They were bid to enter once again, and they did.

Gentari's office was… cluttered. There were lots of shelves and desks, all piled up with papers, booklets, stamping tools, packages, and forgotten tea cups. There was a small sitting area on the left, but even the comfortable looking couches had errant papers on them.

Gentari himself was positively ancient looking. He had a long white moustache and his face was about as wrinkled as Impa's. He had a tall red hat and grey robes not dissimilar to the giant statue's at the gates. He was clearly not the same person, however.

"Oh? You're the big people the whole city is abuzz about", Gentari said, and stood up. Link could almost hear his old bones creaking, and wished the Minish had stayed seated. But no, Gentari grabbed a staff, or rather a sewing needle with a red plaited thread hanging from it, and leaned against it for support as he walked around his work desk to greet them properly. Link noticed that he had two of those feathers that were possibly tails. A status symbol, maybe? Or more grew over time?

"I'm Chief Gentari, the leader of all the Minish in the Minish Woods", he said, and bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Prince Sidon and Sir Link."

He even knew their names. That wasn't alarming or anything.

"We're very honoured to meet you", Sidon said with a regal nod. Link half bowed politely. "I hope we find you in good health."

Ugh, princely manners and small talk.

Gentari chuckled, and pointed to the sitting area with his needle-staff. "Very much so, thank you for your concern. Shall we get seated? I don't like to keep my guests standing."

They moved over to the sitting area and, to Link's surprise and awe, Gentari waved his staff a few times, which caused the papers to rise from the couches, form a neat pile, and levitate over to the work desk.

"That was amazing!" Sidon said, taking the words straight out of Link's mouth. "I have never seen magic like that!"

Actually, now that Sidon put it like that… Link had seen magic like that. Master Kohga and at least one of the mummified Sheikah monks had levitated objects. He felt slightly less awed, but still impressed.

"Thank you", Gentari said, and took a seat. Link was certain he heard at least one bone popping. "That is a very basic bit of magic taught at our Magic Academy. But I doubt learning about our academy is the reason for your visit. Tell me, what do you need me for?"

Straight to the point. Link already liked Gentari.

"Ah, it is actually one of our inquiries", Sidon said, "but not the most pressing. Please tell us, has Slateri the First passed by?"


	27. I gather you want to leave immediately?

"Slateri the First?" Gentari asked, and seemed surprised. "Funny that you asked. He was here, and left just this morning."

...What? They had missed Slateri by mere hours? Wait, they could probably catch up to him if they hurried. He turned to look at Sidon, who looked troubled.

"I see", he said. "That is… good news. We should be able to catch up to him before he gets to the Lost Woods, then."

Why did that sound like Sidon wasn't planning to start running immediately?

'Sidon', Link signed, catching his boyfriend's attention right away. 'We should just ask our questions and leave now.'

Sidon grimaced. "I'm aware that would be the logical thing to do, as far as our main goal is concerned."

Link already knew there would be a 'but' coming. He frowned and crossed his arms, begrudgingly listening.

"But the truth is... I don't want to", Sidon confessed with a sheepish look. "Please listen. We just got here, and there is so much to see and learn in this particular city. Many interesting new concepts have piled up during our journey, and this city is the place where all the answers supposedly wait. We weren't even expecting to catch up to Slateri here; weren't we committed to going all the way to the Lost Woods Capital to find him? We're ahead of our schedule and could afford to explore one more city."

Link's frown deepened in thought. He saw Sidon's point, but at the same time he knew things never went as planned for him; if they didn't seize their chance to catch Slateri now, they likely wouldn't get another chance before the Lost Woods Capital because of his selectively rotten luck. Not that he minded adventuring and new places, but they were in a bit of a hurry here because of Sidon's royal status. They had already taken a week on a few days' journey, and missed their first chance of sending a letter to King Dorephan at the stable. Soon there would be chaos in Zora's Domain because the only heir to the throne had been too quiet for too long without any warning.

Link really didn't want King Dorephan thinking he had gone and gotten another one of his children killed; the only remaining one at that. The sooner they were big again, the better.

"You speak sign language", Gentari said suddenly; Link had already forgotten he was present in the first place. Gentari leaned towards Link with a painfully familiar gleam in his eyes. It was the look that people had when they wanted favours from Link, so he frowned before nodding; he supposed he could hear the old Minish out, if only to avoid answering Sidon's plea just yet. "Fascinating. Now, from the half of your conversation that I'm able to understand, I gather that you might want to leave immediately? I implore that you don't. Please, hear me out."

Link nodded again, reluctantly.

"Thank you. I would ask you to go visit our High Librarian, Librari. She has recently started studying sign language in preparation of teaching it to our population; at least the current generation of children. A deaf girl was born a few months ago, and she will need a teacher as well as peers who will understand her. We have not needed sign language in decades, so the art has been forgotten and needs to be learned from scratch. Librari would benefit greatly from conversing with a person who uses sign language as his primary method of communication."

Link had not expected that. Maybe he should have, since Gentari inquired about his signing before the request, but sweet Hylia. A whole generation was going to learn sign language for the benefit of one child? To be fair, Link didn't actually know how it was for Hylians or the other big people races sans the Zora, but the concept made him… emotional. This was the first time sign language turned out to be actually useful for reasons other than him not having to vocalize. He could make the difference for one little girl's education and life. ...He couldn't say no to that, now could he? Damn it.

'Fine', he signed without looking at Gentari or Sidon. 'But we'll leave first thing tomorrow.'

"Yes!" Sidon cried, and pumped his fist in the air. Link's eyes followed the flex of his bicep attentively, and he already felt better about his decision. He was a simple man with simple likes, and bulging Zora prince muscles were among the top of the list.

"I gather you're staying?" Gentari asked, and Sidon nodded happily. "Excellent. I thank you humbly. Now, you mentioned other inquiries?"

Sidon glanced at Link, who frowned again before signing 'Vaatians'. Sidon nodded, his grin vanishing.

"We came to wonder one thing just before arriving to your office", Sidon said seriously. "How is it that you knew about us before our arrival? Link has his suspicions, but I'd rather hear your explanation before jumping into conclusions."

Gentari opened his mouth to reply, then closed it with a puzzled frown. He thought quietly for a couple of seconds, then finally shook his head. "Funny, that. It's actually quite the mystery. This morning, shortly after Slateri left, a guard came to me. She told me that the whole city was talking about some big people who had been shrunk down and were on their way here. She hadn't been able to verify the truthfulness of that claim as everyone she spoke to had simply heard it from someone else. It was like nobody was the source of the rumour, yet it had spread like wildfire in the span of an hour or so. I have no idea who did it or why."

If Link hadn't been suspicious before, he certainly was now. He told Sidon as much, and now it seemed that his boyfriend agreed.

"I see. Link has a suspicion. I don't know if this is completely baseless, as we have little understanding of the group we're accusing here, but he suspects the Vaatians. We have reason to believe they would be hostile towards us, and that might somehow be enough of a motive to do something like this. Do you think it plausible?"

Gentari nodded instantly. "I don't see why not. I don't have a clue how this could benefit them, but it certainly makes more sense than a random traveler spreading something like this without making themselves the center of the attention while they're at it."

Gentari's eyebrows knit together in obvious worry, which made Link expectant. He wasn't sure whether he dreaded or hoped to be asked to solve this case simply because he was the Hero of Hyrule and always solved everyone's problems, no matter how big or small. Although he wasn't sure if the Minish actually knew about that tidbit in the first place.

"Hmm… Them being numerous enough around here to spread the rumor that fast makes me worry about them striking somewhere sometime soon", Gentari said, and Link held his breath. "Did you have any other questions? I need to speak with the captain of the guard as soon as possible, but I can spare a few more minutes for such rare guests as yourselves."

What? The captain of the guard? Link didn't need to do anything?

Sidon didn't seem confused at all, and merely nodded with a serious look. "Thank you for your hospitality. We won't take much more of your time, since it is of essence right now. We wanted to learn more about the Vaatians, but I suspect that to be a lengthy discussion?"

Gentari nodded. "You're right about that. You could ask Librari or Histori about it. She's next door towards the stairs."

"We've met. We're also interested in the kinstones and the Magic Academy."

Gentari smiled widely. "How wonderful! We're hoping to get kinstones back into the hands of the big people, so it's excellent to hear of your interest. Histori could tell you about those as well, and she could take you to visit the Magic Academy to talk with Mageri. Or if she's busy, Librari can do that instead. Ah, pardon me for simply delegating the task of answering your questions to other people."

Sidon shook his head. "No need for apologies; we understand completely. I'm the crown prince of the Zora, and as such no stranger to prioritizing and delegation. On that note, we have no more questions that aren't related to the subjects already brought up. We can ask Histori, Librari or Mageri, should the answers not come forward on their own after the initial questions."

Gentari nodded, and then stood up with as much creaking as before. Link and Sidon followed suit.

"If anything else comes to you, feel free to pay me another visit", Gentari said as he walked them to his door. "I would love to speak with you again before you leave, if you happen to have the time. I'm expecting more big people visitors now that you have discovered us, and having some knowledge of your culture and of the ways to better accommodate your people would be greatly appreciated."

"We'll keep that in mind", Sidon said with a smile. "I can't promise anything, but we'll see. I plan on visiting your cities again in the future with better time, so at least there is that to look forward to. Thank you for your help and may Hylia bless your guards in their duty."

"May Ezlo watch your steps and offer you wisdom", Gentari said, and tapped his hat a couple of times. It was a strange gesture, but even stranger was the fact that it made Link expect… something, from his own perfectly regular Minish issue cap. Nothing happened, and he was mildly disappointed. He also made a mental note to ask someone about this Ezlo person – or possibly a god – they had heard mentioned a couple of times now.

They left the room, and took the few steps required to reach Histori's door again. Link braced himself for the enthusiasm of the Minish inside before knocking.

Histori personally opened the door this time, and grinned widely at the sight of them.

"I had a feeling it might be you!" she exclaimed. "I didn't expect you back this soon but I'm certainly not complaining. Come in!"

They followed her, and Link noticed that she had cleared one of the work desks and unearthed a couple of chairs for them while they were gone. He felt almost guilty about the fact that he would have ran after Slateri the moment they were done with Gentari had Sidon not persuaded him to stay, promises to Histori be damned.

"Sit down, sit down! Now tell me everything!"

They sat, not having much of a choice. Histori had a notebook and a pencil ready, and she was almost vibrating with anticipation.

'We should ask her about the Vaatians first', Link signed to Sidon. 'It might be urgent, since Gentari suspects they might be here en masse.'

Sidon looked indecisive for a moment, then gave a guilty look at Link's hands for some reason and straightened up. He looked at Histori. "We will, but we have an urgent question of our own first. Would you-"

Histori slammed her writing tools against the table, making Link jump. She had a fierce look in her eyes.

"No", she said, stressing the word. "You promised me a story before you ran off to do more important things last time. I'm not risking the answer to your question making you run off again, without giving me my answers. I'm holding your question hostage until you answer mine. Are we clear?"

If Link didn't know better, he would have sworn she was Zelda in disguise. He officially liked her now, usually hyper or not.

Sidon glanced helplessly at Link, who gave a sheepish shrug and a nod.

"Crystal clear, ma'am", Sidon said. "Fine then, how should I begin...?"

It took them a long while to recount their adventures in the Minish lands, because Histori wanted to know absolutely everything. And by everything, Link meant an outline of every single interaction they had had with the locals, an exhaustive description of every location they had been to, and their thoughts about the Minish cuisine. Among other things; she had questions about everything. The only major things they left out were their personal issues, and she had attempted to pry into those as well; thankfully she had backed off at Link's fierce glaring and repeated 'no' signs.

But finally, after copious notes and a cup of delicious, flowery tasting Minish tea, they were done.

If they didn't have a time limit, Link would have gladly left all of their own questions for later at that point; he felt so exhausted. And he hadn't even done the actual talking, at least not directly.

"Alrighty then", Histori said, and put the notebook down at long last. "I'm satisfied. What was your inquiry?"

Sidon exchanged a relieved look with Link, even though he didn't look at all weary from all the talking. Link suspected that the princely meetings he no doubt participated in often made this interrogation a piece of cake.

"What can you tell us about the Vaatians?"


	28. You want me to recount recent history?

Histori gasped and her eyes widened comically. "You want me to recount an important piece of recent history for you? The story of the no-doubt-interesting-historical-figures-to-be, the Vaatians?"

Link already regretted everything, even though they needed this information. It was the same feeling from when he had had to put up with that lecherous Hylian guy's flirting near Gerudo Town to get his sweet, sweet boots. Necessary, but mentally taxing.

"Yes, please", Sidon answered, polite as ever. Link was glad to have a spokesperson who could keep things smooth between them and the people they interacted with. Actually, Link was glad to have a spokesperson, period.

Histori squealed, and ran to a bookshelf. She grabbed a rolled up parchment, glanced inside of it, and then bounded back to her previous seat with it in her grasp. She cleared her throat and rolled open the parchment.

"The story of the Vaatians is a strange one. It started not long after the shrines in the Lost Woods and near the Pico Pond suddenly activated after roughly a thousand years of silence", she said, and looked briefly at her parchment. "I'll tell you more about the shrines later, if you want. But I digress. The Slateri family let everyone important – such as the town leaders – know that the shrines activating might mean that we would soon receive big people visitors, and we should start getting ready for them. By getting ready, they meant everyone in high enough political position should learn Hylian, the Jabber Nuts needed to be grown in higher numbers again, and we should reinstate the kinstone production – more about that later, too. The Slateris are very highly regarded, so the leaders got started with everything they suggested right away."

Link wondered what this all had to do with the Vaatians, but a glance at Sidon's attentive look had him hold his tongue. Or rather, his fingers.

"After the kinstone production began and the word of the big people coming spread to the civilians, Vaatians made their first appearance", Histori said, and Link nodded. Now they were getting to the point.

"A young Minish, who had the audacity to call himself Vaati – more about Vaati later – came to the town square and held a speech." Histori glanced at her notes before continuing. "He said that the big people would be our doom and we should not welcome them into our midst. We should keep ourselves separate from them and stop worshiping the trash they drop like they're gifts from the heavens. The big people should not be granted our magic via the kinstones, and should, in fact, be repelled away from our dwellings completely so that we would not have to worry about being crushed by their feet. We should rid ourselves from the big people's influence and became our own people who don't live in the shadows of others. That was the gist of it."

Link bit his lower lip in troubled thought. This Vaati had something of a point, which made him trickier to deal with than the Yiga Clan had been. He was not an enemy in theory – because a different political agenda wasn't a crime – but was likely to become one in practice simply because Link and Sidon were big people.

"Minish, especially youngsters, started joining his cause, and soon enough they were calling themselves Vaatians. At first it was simply a little worrisome, but harmless enough; they were more or less a club where like-minded Minish complained about the big people. But a little while ago they started vandalizing and destroying big people objects, harassing officials who are openly positive about big people, and they have tried breaking into the Hero Museum a couple of times now. The latest news has been Slateri the First telling Gentari today that his Sheikah Slate indicated something was wrong with the shrines in the Lost Woods and he had to go there to fix it. He suspected the Vaatians had sabotaged one of the shrines to prevent big people from coming. Since you're here, obviously it didn't work."

Oh. That was actually bad. If the Vaatians had their way, Link and Sidon would be stuck here for the rest of their lives. Nobody would know where to look for them, and even if they suspected this general area, they would probably just try to comb the Lost Woods, which wouldn't be very helpful.

How long would it take before they were declared dead and King Dorephan would start mourning his son?

"It didn't stop us from coming, but it does stop us from leaving", Sidon said, looking serious but not at all panicked the way Link felt. Maybe he didn't see the bigger picture yet, or he was simply quicker than Link at pushing it aside. "We shrunk down by pressing an icon on our Sheikah Slates, but we cannot become big again the same manner. That's why we're looking for Slateri the First; we're hoping he can fix this."

Maybe now Sidon would understand why they had to leave right away. ...If it weren't for that little deaf girl that Link couldn't bear to leave unassisted. Damn it.

Damn Zelda and her accurate diagnosis of his hero complex. If they managed to become big again, he would have to bake her a fruit cake, tell her she was right, and then ask her to stop being right about such inconvenient things. Maybe she could go out of her way to be right about Link growing taller or something. That would be nice.

"Yes, you told me this already", Histori said, and rolled up her parchment. "Did you have any questions about the Vaatians? I don't have much more to tell since I'm not an initiate and don't have the inside information, but I can try."

'Do they have a base of operation?' Link asked instantly, thinking of the Yiga camp at Gerudo Desert. Sidon translated his question obediently.

"Two places are suspected but not confirmed", Histori said. "They seem to always be doing something in this city at random times, so they probably have a hideout here. It's also suspected that they have a larger camp in the Lost Woods, since many of the open Vaatians are Lost Woods Minish, and they do need to have a secure place to train their magic and convene safely. No clue where in there, however."

In short, the rest of their trip would be more dangerous than the first half had been. Link tried to feel properly apprehensive, but mostly he felt excited about the prospect of a real challenge; just like his grand adventure, but with admittedly lower stakes! Not to diminish King Dorephan's potential grief, but it was still less of a disaster than losing to Calamity Ganon and dooming all of Hyrule had been.

Damn, his priorities were all over the place and fluctuating, weren't they? Zelda would have a field day with this one.

"That's worrisome, since we're headed that way", Sidon said with a frown. "At least Chief Gentari is tightening the security here, so Link won't feel the urge to stay and protect everyone, as admirable as that would be."

Link could almost hear Zelda's triumphant 'Ha!' at that. He spelled out 'r-u-d-e' at Sidon, who simply shrugged at him with a half-apologetic smile.

'Ask about Vaati', Link signed to change the subject, and Sidon complied with poorly hidden amusement.

"Ooh, which one?" Histori asked, and stood up. "The current one or the historical figure? Well, to be fair, I don't know much about the current one, but I could talk for hours about the historical Vaati!"

'Cancelling my question', Link signed hurriedly, not wanting to waste their entire day here.

Sidon chuckled. "How about a very brief summary on the historical one?" The question seemed directed at both Histori and Link, so Link admitted his defeat and nodded.

"Aww, that's a shame. But okey-dokey, then!" Histori said, and sat back down. Link suspected she had been ready to fetch reference books, but didn't need them for the short version. That was promising. "Long story short, Vaati was a fledgling mage who was accepted as a pupil by our beloved Ezlo – the strongest mage in our recorded history. Vaati was highly gifted and had enormous potential, but Ezlo – being wise and experienced – saw that he needed to learn compassion, patience, and responsibility before he should be allowed to access truly powerful magic. He didn't want his pupil becoming corrupted by getting too much power at once, after all. So, Vaati's studies were kept slow and steady, with more emphasis on character growth than cultivating his magical powers, which felt underwhelming for someone like him. Vaati became dissatisfied with the pace Ezlo was allowing for his progress, believing he could easily skip ahead in his studies because of his intelligence and talent. That, and he had a secret ambition to exact revenge on big people for personal reasons as soon as he was strong enough, which was his main motive for learning magic. Eventually, in order to get to his goal faster, he stole Ezlo's experimental magical creation: the Minish Cap, which granted its wearer one wish. Any wish. In Vaati's case, the wish was to get magical powers strong enough to achieve his goals."

Link supposed he now understood why the current Vaati had named himself after this guy: they shared a dislike for big people, and taking a name like that would be a quick way to grab peoples' attention so he could achieve his goals faster.

"Ezlo caught him in the act and tried to stop him, but was turned into a living cap in order to make him harmless, and because Vaati was a fan of irony. Vaati was now powerful, but as Ezlo had feared, he lacked the qualities that a person with such vast power should have and was instantly corrupted. Now that he had had a taste of power, he wanted even more and he wanted it fast, and since he had actively been looking for an easy and quick way to have power, he already had a second target ready. He turned big people sized and went to the Hyrule Castle to look for a source of power that was rumoured to be there: the Light Force, which was sealed away in a chest with the sacred Picori Blade. That's a whole other story we're not getting into now. So, he successfully got into the castle and gained access to the chest. He broke the blade to open the chest, but instead of finding the Light Force, he released numerous monsters that had been sealed away in it. Disappointed, he turned the Hylian Princess into stone as revenge, and left to search elsewhere, not realizing that the Light Force was within the Princess the whole time."

"A young Hylian boy, later dubbed the Hero of the Minish, was sent to ask the Minish for help in order to restore the blade and to save the Princess. Thankfully, he ran into Ezlo, and they teamed up to fix the problems. Ezlo, you see, had one trick up his hat: he could turn big people sized and back to Minish size at will, no matter his form. He could also take anyone wearing him with him. I'll let Librari tell you a juicy detail about that later! But I digress again."

Gentari's weird farewell of tapping his hat and wishing them Ezlo's wisdom made a lot more sense now, given that Ezlo had apparently been a hat at some point of his life and was implied to have been worn by the Hero. Perhaps he had been a helpful well of wisdom while sitting on that poor guy's head. The notion gave Link a weird sense of déjà-vu and, even weirder, made him think of Ritos for some reason. How curious.

"Together, Ezlo and the Hero eventually restored the blade even beyond its former glory, sought out Vaati, and defeated him. The Princess was saved, Ezlo was turned back to normal, the evil was contained with a wish from the Minish Cap and re-sealed with the sword, and Vaati was returned to Ezlo's care to learn magic the right way and to let go of his grudges towards the big people. Well, half of him was returned anyway. It's said that when the magic he gained from the Minish Cap was taken from him, he split into two beings: the Minish he had been, and a corrupted shadow of a sorcerer that was sealed into the Picori Blade. There are accounts of said sorcerer causing trouble for the big people later down the line, but the details of that are irrelevant to this tale. As for Vaati, he took a while to come around, but eventually he grew to be a powerful mage who did a lot of good for the Minish. He never learned to tolerate big people, but he never attacked them again, either. He was also one of the founders of this city, and his statue, along with Ezlo's, greets our citizens and our visitors at the gate to the Old Town."

Link thought back to the giant statues he had seen. He assumed the old and wise looking Minish had to be Ezlo, so that made the oddly Hylian looking one Vaati. Maybe his appearance had been permanently altered by the Cap when he had been split into two?

As interesting as it was, Link was acutely aware of their one day in the city dwindling. They had so much to see and do, yet they had wasted hours chatting with Histori.

"That was a fascinating story", Sidon said, completely starry-eyed. "I would love to hear more about-"

Link tapped at Sidon's bicep to get his attention. 'We don't exactly have the time for more stories unless they're related to our current goals. We want to learn about the kinstones, see the Magic Academy, talk to Librari, and see more of the city. We may not even have the time for all of that anymore.'

Sidon pouted at him, and Link was this close to abandoning their Slateri chase and simply letting Sidon get what he wanted. However, he was not Zelda's appointed knight for nothing: when he had a duty, he committed to it and didn't let himself become distracted. ...Not too often, anyway. He pointedly didn't let himself think about the Koroks. Or the treasure chests. Or the dragons. Or the Bokoblin camps. He was occasionally very responsible, damn it!

Sidon sighed in defeat, and turned to look at Histori again. "Link just reminded me that we're on a schedule. I plan on coming back here one day, so perhaps we can have a good long chat then?"

Histori looked equally bummed, but nodded and stood up. "I would love that. Okay then, where are you off to next? I could take you there, since this place is a bit of a maze. And if me escorting you just so happens to buy us more time to talk, well, that's purely coincidental!"

Link snorted, and Sidon chuckled. He really liked Histori.

"We're interested in the Magic Academy and the kinstones, we have business with Librari, and you personally recommended we visit the Hero Museum", Sidon explained. "Which one should we set as our next goal?"

"Ooh, good picks!" Histori said enthusiastically and led them to her door. "I'll take you to the Magic Academy first; Mageri will be right quick with explaining whatever you need to know, while Librari is guaranteed to keep you forever. Better save her for the last! And I can tell you about the kinstones on the way there, if you like?"

"That would be most appreciated."


	29. Why'd they stopped producing kinstones?

Link took a deep breath once he was out of Histori's office; the air had gotten stuffy in there after the three of them had occupied the relatively small room for so long. He hadn't fully realized it before stepping out and being greeted with the much clearer air of the hallway. Actually, the air was strangely clear, considering that they were deep inside of a stone. Was there an actual window somewhere? Or just magic? Whatever the reason, he was glad for the relatively fresh air.

"This way", Histori said, and started walking with a brisk pace. Link and Sidon followed obediently, and Link tried to keep a track of their whereabouts as they did; he wanted to be able to find their way out, should they need to do it on their own.

"So, kinstones!" Histori said after a moment of silence. "I take it someone gave you a piece or a few? Have you merged any yet?"

"Yes, we received some while purchasing foodstuff at the previous towns", Sidon answered. "I have managed to merge one. I saw a strange vision when I did, and Link is of the opinion that what I saw actually happened or will happen in the future. Is that true?"

Histori let out an excited squee, and gave Sidon a big grin. "How fascinating! I haven't managed to find matches for my kinstones yet, but that's probably because our city is so large that running into the right Minish is improbable at my socialization rates!"

Huh. Link had pegged Histori as the type to have a lot of friends and to spend all her free time out and about, what with her being so exuberant and talkative. Maybe she was too much for others and had trouble finding friends, then?

"Regardless of my own lack of success", Histori continued, "I know how the process is supposed to go. Yes, the vision is real and it happened right at the moment you saw it. Kinstones are imbued with Minish luck magic, and their purpose is to bring happiness to the people who merge them. The kinstone's magic binds with the person who owns the piece and gets a feel for the person's needs, wants, and the near future. Then, upon merging with another piece and combining the magic, it gives the fabric of the universe a small push to make something useful for its owner to happen, and gives them a vision of it. Say that you've lost your hat; merging a kinstone is likely to reveal the location of your hat. Or you need information on something; the kinstone may give someone who possesses the knowledge an urge to visit you, or shows you who and where they are so you can go there yourself. It's small stuff, and it can't be anything impossible like rewinding the time to fix a mistake you're embarrassed about. You don't get to choose either, unless you're a mage who knows what they're doing. Whatever combination is the most useful to you at the time and the easiest to make happen is what will happen."

That sounded super useful. Why on earth had the Minish ever stopped producing kinstones? And why not just give everyone a bag of matching pieces for free use? Link tapped Sidon's arm and asked his questions.

"Good questions", Histori said, and took a moment to concentrate on going down a set of stairs before answering. "The kinstones are loaded with magic to give them their purpose, but they also require additional magic from their users to power up the actual wish fulfilling process. If you were to own both pieces and merge them on your own, the process would be very taxing on you. That's why you need two people for one whole stone and why they're not given out en masse."

That made sense. Since Histori didn't bother bringing up making ones that didn't leech power from their users, Link assumed they would be hard, if not impossible to make. Not that he knew much about magic, but it seemed logical since powering the halves up apparently took enough energy to make it unwise to merge them alone.

"As for why the production was stopped", Histori continued. "It was because delivering them to big people became difficult. Luck magic has a tendency to work better the more it's spread around. If the circulation is small, the magic withers. I'm not a mage, though, so I don't ask me about the details of that. So, when the shrines shut down and long distance travel became impossible, we could no longer spread the kinstones all around Hyrule for big people to find and power up the luck magic. They stopped working correctly, and became pointless. Now that the shrines work again and Slateri will be producing more Sheikah Slates for the Minish to travel with – and big people start visiting on their own, too, I assume – the kinstones can be made again."

Wait, Slateri could make Sheikah Slates? Purah had worked for roughly a hundred years to figure out how to make them, yet Slateri could apparently start producing them whenever? Though, to be fair, Link didn't know how long Slateri may have been working on it on his end. Or possibly the knowledge was passed down in their family, maybe even in written form with clear instructions. There was no reason why the Minish should have lost that knowledge to time the same way the Sheikah had, just because the Sheikah had.

Link had the feeling Zelda and Purah would waste no time getting here as soon as he delivered this piece of news to them. They would probably burst from the sheer excitement.

"You have mentioned the shrines shutting down a couple of times now", Sidon said, and Link focused on the conversation again. "What is that about?"

Histori stopped in front of a massive, intricately decorated door. "Isn't that the question? About a thousand years ago the local shrines simply went dormant for no apparent reason. The Slateri family couldn't get them to work, and obviously couldn't communicate with the Sheikah for answers because the shrines wouldn't work. Now that they work again, we're hoping to get some answers from the Sheikah."

Good luck with that. Link doubted the Sheikah had any answers, seeing how lost they had been with the old Sheikah technology themselves. Or maybe they did have the answers to that question in their history books, and their lack of knowledge about the technology itself was a separate issue. Thankfully that sounded like a problem for Purah, and not him.

"Anyway, we're here!" Histori said with a cheer, and opened the door.

The room was... oddly smoky. Except not the kind of smoke that came from campfires. No, this smoke was green and red and orange and smelled kind of like the incense Zelda liked in her chambers, but not quite. The smoke swirled at their feet like some kind of strange non-corporeal snakes, and Link hoped the smell wouldn't stick. Other than that, the room was very colourful: the stone walls had been painted with strange patterns of different colours and sizes, but quite obviously with some kind of an intent that eluded Link. There were dried plants hanging from the ceiling, and now Link was questioning if it was the smoke that smelled or if it came from those plants instead.

Around the room were doors that had the same patterns on them as the walls, but they were only painted with a single colour and shape for each: one had blue swirls, another had red spikes, one had orange jigjags, and so on. In the middle of the room was a large table filled with knick-knacks, among which was a large bowl of kinstones. Link felt an odd compulsion to approach it, and upon doing so suddenly saw a tiny glowing spot within it.

"Hmm? And who might you be?"

Link startled out of his trance, and looked at a Minish who had practically materialized next to him out of the blue. The Minish was wearing a red cloth robe with orange square shapes embroidered on the sleeves and the hem, and a typical Minish style red pointy cap. Their eyebrows were imposing in size.

'Link', he answered automatically, only to be met with an impressive frown. Right, this one didn't understand him. Not that he would have expected anything different, had he put any forethought to it.

"Mageri! How convenient!" Histori cried, and jumped between the two. Literally jumped, all the way from the doorway where Sidon was still standing with a baffled expression.

"Oh. It's you", Mageri said, looking unimpressed. "And you brought guests. How wonderful."

Sarcasteri would have been another fitting name for this Minish, Link thought. Though maybe they just didn't much like Histori.

"Not just any guests!" Histori said, not deterred in the least. "They're the big people everyone is talking about! This one is Link; he's a Hylian. That one is Prince Sidon; he is Zora royalty. And they want to learn about Minish magic!"

Link had been inching closer to the bowl of kinstones during the introductions, but froze when Mageri turned to regard him again.

"Really? That explains why they look so strange", Mageri said, and Link tried his best not to take offense to that – he found the Minish strange looking, too, so fair was fair. "It doesn't, however, explain your apparent need to get your hands to the kinstone bowl. Do you mind?"

Link looked at the glow in the bowl again, and dug out his own kinstone piece. It was glowing, just like he had half-expected. He held it out to Mageri, who simply looked at it like there was nothing particularly interesting about it.

"You're hoping to merge kinstones? I'm sorry, lad, but since those ones are unbound it'll be very difficult to find the one yours is reacting to", Mageri said with a shake of his head.

'I know which one it is', Link signed, which prompted Sidon to start translating for him – he had come over and attempted to trade pleasantries with Mageri to no avail while Link had been distracted. 'It glows.'

Mageri was suddenly extremely interested, judging from the fact that he promptly walked over to the bowl and upended it, scattering the kinstones all over the table with a few even rolling to the floor.

"Point it to me", they said, and gestured at the pieces. Oh, right, Link shouldn't merge them on his own so he couldn't just grab it. He located the only glowing kinstone with ease, and Mageri picked it up. It glowed even brighter, and started pulsing.

"Just so you know", Mageri said, "you seeing the glow is extraordinary. Most people can't see it. You're either a rare case who is born with it, or a certain condition is met and you gain the ability. Let's merge these and I'll find out."

Mageri chanted a few words in a language Link wasn't familiar with, and their kinstone piece's glow changed its colour subtly to a slightly more orange tint. They held the piece out to Link, who met it with his own half without hesitation.

The halves merged together seamlessly, just like Sidon's had before. Their combined glow got harsher, and Link's piece's glow colour changed to match Mageri's. The merged kinstone lifted into the air on its own, glowed even brighter, and disappeared with a 'ping'.

Link's eyes glassed over.

ooooo

It was dark and misty, and there were dead looking trees with frightening face-like deformities all around. Link could hear a fox yip somewhere close-by, which was shortly followed by a sound of footsteps getting closer.

The fox came into view and slunk over to one of the trees. Link noticed now that there was a patch of mushrooms clustered at the tree's roots, and the fox seemed somewhat interested in them. However, as soon as the fox's snout accidentally poked at the side of the tree next to one of the mushrooms, there sounded a sudden 'crack' that sent it packing with a whimper.

Where the fox had touched was now a tiny hole on the tree's bark. There was only darkness within from Link's viewpoint, but it led him to believe that the hole was relatively deep.

Whatever might be hidden within?

ooooo

Link blinked rapidly, and then squinted his eyes at the sudden brightness that came with being back at the Magic Academy.

Huh. So that's what it had been like to Sidon. How curious. It was similar to his own memory trips back in the day, but not quite the same.

Thinking back on his vision, he could recognize the place he saw as the Lost Woods. Of course he had no idea where there the exact spot he had seen was located, but he was reasonably confident he'd run into it if they were to go there. After all, that was how these kind of things tended to go in his experience.

...Since his kinstone deemed that place important to him in the near future, did that mean they would definitely go there during this trip? Was this a sign that they wouldn't be able to catch up to Slateri even if they tried?

Well, shit.


	30. Tell me, are you able to see the Koroks?

"Link? What did you see?" Sidon asked, which brought Link out of his musings and back to here and now.

'Lost Woods. A cave appeared', he summarized.

Sidon looked expectant for a moment longer, but then realized nothing more was coming. "That's it? That's… a little underwhelming. Oh, maybe there's something amazing in the cave that we need to go and see for ourselves? I can see how spoiling a surprise would be worse than not seeing more."

Link smiled, opting to not share his earlier epiphany at the moment. Sidon may yet figure it out for himself, or they could talk about it later.

"I have some answers for you, although on a different subject", Mageri said, getting everyone's attention. "I mentioned earlier that you're either born with the ability to see the kinstone's glow, or you may gain it. I'm reasonably sure it's the latter in your case. Tell me, are you able to see the Koroks? The forest spirits, that is."

Link nodded. Sidon looked at him in surprise; clearly he knew something about the topic, but had been unaware of Link's ability. Well, Link had learned to not advertise it, since people at large thought him crazy for seeing things.

"That's the proof, then", Mageri said with a sagely nod. "My vision showed me the Deku Tree when I specifically asked about this. He's connected to the Koroks, so it was a very clear answer. Regardless, the ability to see Koroks – and other spirits, as well as some magic for that matter – indicates that you came very close to death, and upon survival received this special gift. It's not too rare with old people, since they're pretty likely to have heart failures and are occasionally successfully revived, but it's rare with younglings like you."

...That was disturbing, but also explained so many things, such as why King Rhoam had stuck around after his death despite not being bound by any Divine Beasts; chances were he knew of this phenomenon and trusted that Link would be able to see him and receive his help when he woke. Link had also been almost certain he hadn't been able to see the Koroks a hundred years ago, and this proved his hunch about it right.

"How come I'm unable to see any of that?" Sidon asked, looking unreasonably bummed out by not having almost died. "I brushed death once; I was swallowed whole by a giant Octorok."

Oh, right. That had happened.

"Did you believe you were dying?" Mageri asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sidon gave him a puzzled look, and then the implication visibly dawned on him. "Ah, I see. No, I didn't even consider death at the time."

"There you have it, then", Mageri answered, and turned their attention back to Link. "I would very much like to hear the details of your case, but I understand it's likely a touchy subject. So, let's discuss your reason for seeking audience with me instead."

Link pointed at Sidon. He didn't see any reason Mageri should be looking at him for this discussion, as it was mostly Sidon's business here. That, and he definitely didn't want to tell Mageri "the details of his case". Half because he didn't like talking about it, and half because he didn't want to advertise his heroism now that he was almost certain the Minish didn't know who he was.

Sidon smiled widely. "We wanted to learn more about the Minish magic! I suppose we'd be interested in seeing more performed, but on the theoretical side we'd love to hear more about the aptitudes. Hiveri from another village told me the basics, but he didn't know if, theoretically, we big people would be able to learn magic as well. I had a sister who could magically heal, so I'm curious if I'd be able to do the same with proper training."

Mageri nodded, looking at Sidon appraisingly. "I could show you some of my Academy and we can find the answer to your question along the way."

Link and Sidon both perked up. Now this was more like it!

"Yes, please!"

To the side, possibly tired of being ignored, Histori coughed deliberately, bringing everyone's attention to her.

Mageri's expression turned sour instantly, and they looked at the historian with a massive frown. "You're not invited. You're too distracting and you know it."

Ouch. That was rude, and that's something coming from Link, who was known far and wide for his lack of manners.

Histori smirked, and leaned her hip against the table in obvious challenge. "You're such a sour and no-fun guy, Mageri. Besides, I'm the good kind of distracting and you know it."

Link's eyebrows rose; this was an entirely new side to Histori, and it looked promising. Link dug a piece of honey candy from his pocket and munched on it, eyes glued at his new entertainment.

"No, I don't know it. There's only one kind of distracting, and that's bad. Any distraction is bad when you need to focus. I'm perfectly aware I'm no fun, and I won't argue about my sourness with you. Stay here or leave."

Sidon gave Link a disapproving look at his behavior, but happily accepted a candy when Link offered him one.

"Oh, I'll stay. I know you're all too happy to watch me leave, but I like to think you're also sad to see me go", Histori said with a wink, and Mageri actually blushed a little and looked away.

Oh, that was a good one. Histori looked to be fighting an uphill battle, based on Mageri's attitude, but that little victory brought Link firmly into her corner. He silently wished her good luck in her endeavor; she would need it.

"Think what you want as long as you do as asked", Mageri said, sounding a little awkward, but obviously trying his best to filter it out of his body language. He sharply turned away from Histori and walked over to the door with blue swirl patterns, and then turned around to wave impatiently at Link and Sidon. "Are you coming or not?"

They hurried to comply. Link heard a little snicker from Histori, and smirked in return.

When the door was opened a bunch of blue smoke billowed into the room. Link supposed the different coloured smoke swirls he had noted earlier had similarly come from the other rooms when people moved around. It was pretty cool, actually.

What was in the room was even cooler.

There were Minish dressed similarly to Mageri buzzing around or busily sitting at their work desks. Most were radiating blue light from their hands – and emitting a light steam of that blue smoke on the side – and applying it to something: one Minish was making water swirl rapidly in a bowl, another was holding their hands against a spear in deep concentration, one seemed to be making a potted flower sway, one was doing something with a pony-sized ladybug, one seemed to be making mist, and so on.

"Here some of my students are working on water-based magic", Mageri explained succinctly, and walked right over to the student with the ladybug without missing a beat. "Shoveli. How is the healing going? Any progress?"

Mageri certainly didn't waste any time getting to the point.

Link and Sidon looked at each other, and Link noticed Sidon was almost vibrating from sheer excitement. He gave his boyfriend an encouraging grin.

"I got the leg to stop the bleeding, but I still can't close the wound itself", Shoveli said, biting into their lip in frustration. "I don't understand; I did just fine with the worm."

Mageri shook his head in obvious disappointment. "I would normally let you figure it out on your own, but I have a demonstration in mind here. Your problem is that you're not taking into account the fact that the ladybug's leg isn't fleshy like a worm, and needs a different approach."

Shoveli's expression brightened instantly, but then became surprised when they finally noticed Link and Sidon. Mageri ignored it and simply motioned for Sidon to step closer.

"Shoveli, try again. Sidon, hold your hand over Shoveli's and feel the magic; see if it feels like your sister's. If it does, concentrate on the feeling and imagine yourself adding into it. Don't expect anything spectacular, just concentrate on achieving anything at all."

Shoveli and Sidon looked at each other with confusion and hesitation, and then Sidon smiled brightly and extended his hand.

"I'm Sidon. I'm honoured to have you as my guide. Let's work together and heal this ladybug!"

Shoveli blushed bright red and hurried to shake Sidon's much larger hand. "I- I- The honour is all mine! Gosh, I haven't been anyone's guide before. I'll do my best!"

Sidon's grin widened, and Shoveli gave a hesitant smile back. To their credit, they only glanced at Sidon's pointy teeth once.

The two of them laid their hands over the ladybug's injured leg, and closed their eyes. Both took deep, calming breaths, and then Shoveli's hand started glowing blue and lightly smoking. Sidon's eyes opened wide for a moment, before he hurriedly closed them again. A deep crease of concentration appeared on his crest, and his fingers curled slightly over Shoveli's small hand.

And then Link saw it.

It was very faint, and only on the tips of Sidon's fingers, but it was there: a white-blue glow. The exact same shade as Mipha's had been in Link's memories.

Sidon had Mipha's Grace. Or at least the potential for it.

Link smiled widely at Mageri, who glanced in his direction with a satisfied look and gave a nod.

They watched as the gash in the ladybug's leg closed over little by little until finally there was no sight of a wound ever having been there.

Sidon retracted his hand and looked at it in wonder and shock. Shoveli inspected the ladybug and then turned to grin at Sidon.

"We did it! Thank you! I think your contribution was very helpful; the whole process felt much more natural, somehow. Is healing your aptitude?"

Sidon looked at Shoveli, then at Link, and then at Mageri, clearly looking for the answer he didn't have. Mageri nodded solemnly.

"It seems like it. You haven't had one lesson in magic and you were still able to do it. That's a clear sign."

Sidon smiled widely, but then the smile slowly diminished as he turned thoughtful. He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced.

"Not that I'm not happy to hear that, but I'm afraid that's not necessarily true", he said with a sheepish smile that turned sad way too quickly for Link's liking. "I have tried to teach myself on a few occasions over the years. I tried healing injured fish or other animals whenever I encountered one, and there were never any results. In the beginning, I actually had Muzu – he's a teacher of mine – try to guide me with the knowledge he had garnered from my sister when she still lived. My inability to do anything made him give up on it after a few sessions. What I'm trying to say is that I've actually had lessons before, and clearly healing can't be my aptitude since I never achieved anything before now. I'm glad to be capable of it and would love to learn more one day, but that's likely the extent of it."

Link fought against the urge to hug Sidon and tell him at was alright and he was perfect and Muzu was stupid for giving up on him too soon. But he realized that was largely beside the point here, so he held still.

Mageri, however, looked thoroughly unconvinced. "Really? From the sound of it, this Muzu is not a healer or a mage himself, so his teaching doesn't really count for much. Tell me about your sister instead. When and how did her powers manifest, and when did she learn to harness them?"

Sidon blinked rapidly, looking like he couldn't decide if he should take offense over the instant dismissal of his words. Or possibly on Muzu's behalf. In the end, his princely manners won and he put on a neutral face.

"Mipha learned about her healing powers when she was fifty, which is still a child in our race's aging rate. I'm told our mother got a minor injury and Mipha healed it because she felt sad about it and didn't want her hurt. She couldn't repeat the feat on purpose afterwards, but she occasionally did more accidental magic until she eventually learned to control her powers. She mastered them with the help of our maternal grandfather, whose own grandmother had been a healer as well. He wasn't one himself, but he could guide Mipha to some extent anyway because his own grandmother had tried teaching him way back when. I tried to learn the skill on my own when I was the same age, but never managed anything and eventually gave up. Until we came here, I had accepted that it had just been Mipha's skill and I couldn't learn it."

Link hadn't realized it before – largely because Sidon hadn't talked about this before – but Sidon had actually been in the same position as Zelda had been a hundred years ago: possessing a dormant skill but all the potential teachers had been dead. Mipha would have been the obvious choice, but she died when Sidon had apparently been too young to learn. Their grandfather had been another option since he had been able to train Mipha, but Sidon had once told Link about a tragic family trip to the sea that had taken both Sidon's mother and grandfather, so even if the Zora lifespan might have allowed it, fate hadn't. Kudos to Muzu for trying to step in, but unfortunately it hadn't been enough. It was tragic, really.

Mageri looked oddly triumphant. "Your speech did absolutely nothing to prove me wrong. It's very simple, actually – Mipha was a genius and you're not. I'll take you as my apprentice and prove your claim wrong."

...Wait, what?


	31. You're bringing that up again, are you?

"Uh, apprentice?" Sidon asked inelegantly, looking really out of his element for once. Link couldn't blame him.

"Yes", Mageri said, and walked over to them. He held up his hand, palm up, towards Sidon. Sidon blinked at it uncomprehendingly a few times, until he finally, uncertainly, held out his own hand in a similar pose. Mageri grabbed a gentle hold of it with both of his own small hands and examined it curiously. "Like I said, your sister was a genius. It's unusual to manifest your powers in such a way when you're still a child, much less learn to control them even if you do. That's why you couldn't learn the spell when you were the same age; you certainly have the power, but you're not a genius. Like most people, you simply had to wait until the usual age to manifest your powers and now you need a competent teacher to show you how it's done. Only geniuses learn practically on their own or with haphazard guidance."

Did that make Zelda a genius? Clearly not as much of one as Mipha had apparently been, but Zelda did learn on her own in the end.

Wait. Did that make Urbosa, Daruk and Revali geniuses as well? To be fair, he didn't know if Urbosa or Daruk had had teachers, or Yunobo for that matter, but Revali certainly didn't. ...Well, it made a lot of sense that they had been chosen as Champions, if that was the case.

…He had the feeling Revali would be insufferably smug if he knew of Link's current thoughts.

"Regardless, since you're likely only interested in harnessing your aptitude – and potentially only capable of that anyway; I don't know how Zora magic works – I could take you as my personal apprentice instead of rolling you into the academy as a regular student", Mageri continued, still fiddling with Sidon's hand, and suddenly a flash of white-blue light lit the tips of Sidon's fingers. Mageri grinned widely. "Oh, such potential indeed! Hmm, Zora magic feels a bit different from Minish magic; certainly more water-oriented while ours is luck-oriented. But I can work with this. I'm not the master of this academy or carry the name of Mageri for nothing! Hah, I think I can finally justify changing my name to Archmageri when I'm done with your education!"

Sidon stared at his fingers in wonder, seemingly only half-paying attention to Mageri's words. Link, however, was wary. He tapped Sidon's arm to wrestle his attention away from the pretty lights.

'I think you need to set things straight before Mageri drags you to get fitted for a robe', he signed, but Sidon looked indecisive. That was bad. 'Sidon. You can't apprentice yourself away right now. Later, much later, yes. Now, no.'

Sidon frowned, and turned to Mageri. "Please excuse us for a moment."

He freed his hand and turned back to Link. 'This might be a one time only offer, and our trip, after we're done being small, will take months. He may have changed his mind then.'

For a moment Link was too distracted by the fact that Sidon was actually signing to him to pay attention to the actual words. But then they caught up to him and he gave Sidon a disbelieving look. 'Are you kidding me? You can't stay here now. Actually think for a second. You're letting your feelings dictate your decision.'

Sidon's frown deepened, and he looked very displeased. 'You're really not in a position to say that. What, leaving me at the stable was a perfectly fine course of action in your opinion, but me staying here and learning to heal is bad?'

Link glared. How dare he. 'You're bringing that up again, are you? Didn't you tell me it was forgiven and forgotten? Are you gonna bring up the grasshopper, too? Well, how about your own silent starvation and dehydration?'

Sidon bared his teeth, but clenched his fists tightly to, presumably, prevent himself from saying something. He halfway turned away from Link and closed his eyes, visibly trying to calm down.

Link felt slightly ashamed, but he was going to hold his ground. He was right and he knew it. ...Although Sidon did have a small point. He could stay here safely while Link continued alone. But now it was Sidon who was forgetting a teeny tiny little detail, just like Link had before.

Slateri would most likely not understand Link's signing.

He gave Sidon a moment longer to gather his calm, and then tapped his elbow. Sidon sighed, but opened his eyes and looked at him expectantly. Annoyance was still written all over his face.

'Slateri won't be able to understand me', Link signed, slowly and deliberately to emphasize his point.

Sidon stared at his fingers blankly for a second, and then gave a resigned chuckle. "Of course. You're right. I'm sorry for getting carried away. And for bringing up the past."

Link gave him a smile and patted his bicep, and then gestured towards Mageri expectantly. Sidon returned the smile with a sheepish one of his own before turning away.

"Thank you for the very generous offer, Mageri, but I must decline for the time-being", Sidon said, apparently much to Mageri's shock. "Link and I need to find a way to return to our original size in order to let our loved ones – my father the Zora King included – know we're safe. We disappeared quite unexpectedly."

Mageri seemed to be at a loss for words, but eventually shook it off and adopted a grumpy look. "Fine. I can accept that. So when do you expect you would be able to start, instead?"

Sidon exchanged a relieved look with Link. "Ah, we're actually on a rather long journey that simply got sidetracked by our accidental shrinkage. I would like to finish that first, if that is acceptable. I cannot give any exact estimation for the duration, but it will be between a few months at least and a year at most."

Link looked at Sidon with wide eyes and a big smile. He had half-expected their bigger adventure to get canceled because of the better offer, yet here Sidon was, negotiating it in. He really loved this man.

Mageri looked a lot less pleased. "A year? Hmph! Big people will probably be common by that time and I'll be up to my eyeballs in potential apprentices! I can't promise I'll have the time for you anymore."

Link rolled his eyes at the empty threat. Purah and her apprentice were the only ones capable of making more Sheikah Slates, and she had a specific list of people she was going to prioritize when she managed to get more done. The general public would have to wait for a long time, if she was ever going to venture there in the first place. A year was not going to make a difference. Not that Mageri necessarily knew that, so maybe Link should cut him some slack.

Sidon gave Link a worried glance. Oh, right, he probably didn't realize that either.

'No worries', Link signed with a knowing smile. 'It'll probably only be Zelda and Riju by then. Only Purah can make more Slates, and it's slow work.'

Sidon beamed at him and turned to Mageri again. "I have reason to believe otherwise. If you do have the time and an open spot, will you take me as your apprentice in a year?"

Mageri glared at Link like the inconvenient situation was somehow his fault, but nodded at Sidon anyway. "Fine. I will. But I expect you to be fully dedicated to your studies then. If you happen to have any Zora spell books or other information sources or magical artifacts, bring them with you so we can take a look. Teaching you will be easier if we have something of your own heritage to work with."

Sidon gave a delighted laugh, and bent on one knee to enthusiastically shake Mageri's hand. "Thank you! I will come completely prepared when I'm able! You won't regret this, Master Mageri!"

Mageri looked bewildered by the handshake, but visibly pleased at the title. He coughed, and pulled his hand away. "Good. Good. Now, I think the tour is over, since you'll return here eventually and have plenty of time to acquaintance yourself with every room then."

Both Link and Sidon's faces fell at that.

"But we-"

'I won't be-'

Mageri tsked and shook a finger at them. "My school, my rules. This way."

He briskly walked towards a door… that was not the one they had entered from. Link and Sidon exchanged a confused look, but hurried to follow.

The door had red triangles on it, and both red magic smoke and some actual smoke billowed out when it was opened. The inside was similar to the previous rooms, but in addition to desks there were fireplaces, kilns, and anvils available. The room was hot, as well. The Minish students were working on different fiery spells and also doing blacksmithing from the looks of it.

They had no time to take everything in properly before Mageri ushered them through another door and they found themselves in a greenhouse. The Minish were tending to plants that glowed, sparkled, moved or sang…

The next room had rocks being magically sculpted,and statues being magically repaired. Huh, that explained how the obviously ancient statues outside were in such a good condition Also, there was a whole mountain of inactive kinstones laying around; without magic they looked like regular coins, perfectly round and kind of dull. A Minish was sitting at a nearby desk and enchanting one of them. When they finished, the stone glowed brightly and broke into two matching pieces.

Mageri stopped in front of the next door and turned to give Sidon a calculating look. The door had yellow zigzags on it, and Link didn't need any time at all to connect the dots.

Yeah, that would be a terrible idea.

"Considering that your magic is water-based…" Mageri trailed off and gestured at the door.

Sidon shook his head vehemently. "Yes. Let's stay far away from electricity, please."

"In that case, the tour is really over", Mageri said, and led them to another door. It was blank. "There are still a few other rooms, but you can see them the next time."

Damn, now Link was really curious. Whatever could still be left? Air, maybe? Did talking to creatures have its own room? Uhh, some kind of mental powers? Whatever Zelda had, light? Darkness?

He was not about to find out and that sucked. But he supposed Sidon could tell him all about it one day, if he didn't personally drop by when Sidon came back here for his studies.

The door took them back to the first room, where Histori was sitting at the table and sorting the kinstones by their colour. She looked up when they entered, and jumped from her seat with a wide grin.

"Oh, the tour is over already?" she asked, and skipped over to them. "What's the verdict? Are we getting our first ever Zora student at the academy?"

Mageri seemed to have trouble settling on an expression. He looked annoyed for a moment, proud at the next moment, and then a strange mix of the two. "Yes to both. He will be learning healing as my apprentice in a year. Unless I'm too busy."

The last part sounded very tacked on, and cause Link to smirk.

Histori squealed. Actually squealed. And then she jumped to hug Sidon around his middle, causing him to sputter in surprise and also because she didn't know to mind his gills. Link was unfortunately very familiar with doing that.

"WE ARE MAKING HISTORY! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

"My gills-"

"Ooh, we need to inform Librari! Come on!"

She hopped off of Sidon, grabbed a hold of both his and Link's wrists, and whirlwinded them out of the academy.

...Okay then.


	32. Is my signing okay?

"LIBRARI, GUESS WHAT?!" Histori yelled, as she enthusiastically kicked the door to the library open.

Link and Sidon were dragged in, not really having had much of a choice in anything ever since they left the Magic Academy. Histori had pulled them down the hallways in a hurry and led them to the library without any hesitation or manners whatsoever. Really, maybe her name was actually Hysteri and Link had just misheard it.

"Histori, don't yell in the library!" A voice sounded from somewhere further in. Also yelling. Link snorted.

"COME HERE AND I'LL STOP!" Histori kept on shouting, and started pulling them in the direction of the earlier voice.

"Why are you like this?" the same voice asked, right before their group went around a book shelf and came face to face with the source.

Link knew she had to be Histori's sister, Librari. Both because of the yelling, and because Histori immediately let go of him and Sidon in order to tackle-hug her. She was wearing a green cloth tunic, a blue cape, and a ridiculously tall blue cap that was currently on the floor thanks to Histori's antics.

"Hey, sis!" Histori said with a laugh, and got a much suffering sigh in return. Librari did return the hug, though, before pushing at Histori to get her off of her.

"Yes, hi, Histori", she said, and clambered up. Histori handed her her cap, which she gingerly put back on. "So what's up with the ruckus? Did you manage to capture and interrogate Vaati or- whoa!"

She noticed Link and Sidon at that point, and her eyes went wide.

Histori let out an excited noise. "Surprise! I have the famous big people! The tall, red, and handsome one is Prince Sidon of the Zora. The more manageable sized and hella cute one is Link of the Hylians. You'll want to have a chat with him later. But guess what? Sidon is going to be Mageri's apprentice! The first ever Zora apprentice for a Minish mage!"

Link was more than a little flustered after that introduction. He certainly agreed on Sidon's behalf, and was getting used to everyone finding his boyfriend handsome, but being complimented like that himself was less common. Histori hadn't given any indication of finding him good looking before now.

He exchanged glances with Sidon, who was giving him a ridiculously pleased look. Apparently he also approved of Histori's assessment. Link blushed a little.

Histori proceeded to fill her sister in on Sidon's magical training, as well as the other news, so Link took his time to finally properly look around.

The library seemed huge from the limited vantage point Link had. Not only were there countless bookshelves, both carved into the stone walls and separate wooden ones in the middle, there was a kind of a second floor, too. It looked like a giant balcony with tables near the railing, and had floor to ceiling bookshelves on the walls. Link couldn't really see the details from his position on the lower floor, but he was pretty sure all the bookshelves on the second floor were carved on the walls. He also couldn't see the stairs, but he assumed there'd be at least one set somewhere.

Sidon had wandered over to the nearest bookshelf and was eagerly browsing the books, despite his inability to read Minish. Link idly wondered if Sidon's magical training would include Mageri teaching him to read the local language. Sidon would definitely love that.

There was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned around to see Librari smiling widely at him.

"Hello, Mister Link", she said very slowly, kind of loudly, and with exaggerated mouth movements.

Sweet Hylia in her Domain, what had he done to deserve this? Because he knew exactly what was going on and he resented it.

"I'm Librari", she continued, and then signed the same thing. It was a little clumsy and slow, but most certainly understandable. She continued signing as she spoke. "My sister told me you speak sign language and that you have agreed to help me learn it better."

Some of her signs were… strangely off, even though Link could see what they were supposed to mean. Hearing her say the same thing out loud helped in that, too.

'Hi', he signed back, and her eyes widened. 'I did agree to help. For the record, I'm not deaf, and if I was, speaking louder wouldn't help.'

She looked bewildered and clearly a little lost, so Link repeated himself, this time slower. Her eyes widened again, and she blushed scarlet.

"I'm sorry!" she said, and kind of wiggled her arms around in agitation. It was cute, so he forgave her faux pas. "I didn't mean to assume! And, oh no, of course speaking louder wouldn't work; I don't know why I did that. I'm so sorry!"

Link waved his hand at her with a smile. 'Apology accepted. Get back to signing.'

She froze, blushed some more, and then brought her hands back into place. 'Yes, sorry. Is my signing okay?'

'It's fine. Some words were off earlier. Not sure if it's you doing it wrong or if it's a Minish dialect.'

They continued talking, and it turned out that there was, indeed, a Minish dialect. It made sense, since the big people and the Minish had been separate from each other for centuries. Sidon joined their conversation after a while, which was very helpful whenever Librari didn't know a sign Link used as Sidon could say it out loud for her and save Link the effort of spelling it, and his Zora style signing kept her on her toes. Histori disappeared at some point and returned with a boxed dinner, which they relocated to eat at one of the tables. Then she fetched the Minish sign language books and a blank book so that she could record the differences whenever they occurred.

It was fun and Link felt proud of himself for being so useful with a talent that had mostly been a pain in the ass during this trip. But the whole endeavor was also horribly exhausting, and he was more than ready to book a room at an inn and retire for the night by the time Librari realized she should close the library for the night.

Sweet Hylia, they had been at it for hours.

'Thank you so much for the help', Librari said with so much sincerity that Link was sure it added a few years into his lifespan. 'You don't understand how important this is to me.'

'Happy to help', Link signed with a pleased grin. 'Anything for the kids.'

'How can I ever repay this?' she asked, and while it was clearly rhetorical, Link did actually have an answer to it.

They had, after all, accidentally skipped one part of their plan for the day when they got completely swept away with the signing lesson.

'Show us the Hero Museum tomorrow morning', he said, and Sidon gasped with stars in his eyes.

"Yes, please!" Sidon chorused, and looked like a kid presented with a whole bag of honey candy.

That was largely the reason Link didn't simply suggest to skip it in favour of leaving nice and early; Sidon was just too precious when he was excited.

Librari looked a little taken aback with Sidon's happiness, but then she laughed and nodded. 'I'd be happy to! I'll open the library and the museum at eight. Come whenever you're ready.'

"We will!"

ooooo

Finally! Sweet quiet and blessed peace!

Link flopped on their family sized bed and stretched languidly. Their room was the largest and the most luxurious one available, and a comfortable height for even Sidon. There was a large bathroom with a pool sized tub in it, which their host had filled with hot water while the two of them had eaten a light supper at the nearby restaurant.

Link had had a baked caterpillar with the side of sunflower seeds and wild violet petals, and it had been amazing. Sidon had eaten an expensive dish of boiled newt tail and acorn mash, with a side of ant eggs. He had enjoyed it, but was guiltily digging out some frogspawn from his bag to fill his stomach properly. There hadn't been anything aquatic or semi-aquatic or any kind of water-related dishes on the menu that could have even theoretically done the job for Sidon – the newt had been the most promising sounding option, but obviously it had been a miss. Figuring out what worked for Sidon besides fish was tricky.

Link hoped there would be something in the market square they had spotted on their way back. It would be a fine mess if Sidon ran out of proper food and starved again.

Link relaxed while Sidon ate, and was then brought out of his reverie by the sound of Sidon's jewelry clinking as he removed them. He sat up on the bed.

"May I join you in the bath?" he asked, and wiggled his eyebrows. Damn, this was going to be the first bath they had together as boyfriends, which meant Link no longer had to worry about making things weird; he was simply allowed to look and touch as much as he wanted to. Excellent!

Sidon looked at him and chuckled.

"Of course, Wildberry", he answered, and walked over to drop a kiss on Link's lips. Link had taught him well.

He was sure he had a dopey smile on his face as he peeled off his Minish issue leafwear and jogged after Sidon, who was already headed to the bath.

They slid into the water that was equally slightly displeasing for them both: Sidon thought it too warm and Link too cool. It was a decent compromise.

Sidon submerged completely for a while to give his entire body the soaking it required, and then settled on laying on his back with his head tail hanging over the edge of the tub. The tub wasn't as big as Link knew he preferred, but it was adequate by the standards he had while they were tiny. At least he fit in properly.

Link climbed on Sidon's lap and got to scratching loose scales off his chest. There weren't nearly as many of them as there had been back at the Stable Town, as Sidon had done a better job of staying hydrated lately. That, and Link was snuggling up to him and rubbing at his scales on a nightly basis.

Mind, Link scratching at Sidon's chest had actually a lot less to do with the scales and more to do with touching his ripped muscles, but it was the end results that mattered. Sidon certainly wasn't complaining or calling him out on it.

"Mmm… Do my shoulders", Sidon said, sounding very relaxed and content. Link was more than happy to oblige; he did love his boyfriend's broad shoulders just as much as his chest.

Content silence punctured only by the softly lapping water reigned for a good few minutes, until Sidon wanted to turn around and have Link focus on his back. Which just, sweet Hylia, yes please.

Such a nice, vast, muscular back, and Link got to touch it as much as he wanted to.

"Hmm, Link?" Sidon asked. Link made a generally questioning noise to show he was listening. "It was really thoughtful of you to ask Librari to show us the museum tomorrow. I know you wanted to leave as soon as we awoke and I had agreed to it, so I truly appreciate you changing the plans."

Link kissed the back of Sidon's neck.

"You matter more than a few hours do", he said matter-of-factly.

Sidon gave a laugh that sounded both pleased and surprised, and was one of the best sounds Link had ever heard.

"I will add 'very romantic' to the long list of your good qualities, my Wildberry", Sidon said with a very fond sounding voice and damn it, why did his face have to be unavailable at this angle because that tone really made Link want to kiss him silly!

Also, apparently that had been romantic. Huh. Well, he could certainly do romance in that case, which was something of a relief.

He wrapped his arms snuggly around Sidon's shoulders and pressed his face against Sidon's head tail, smiling widely with a heart so full it could burst.


	33. So, Hero Museum?

Link and Sidon woke up nice and early, well rested and eager to face the day. They ate a hearty breakfast on a bench near the marketplace with Link taste-testing the local specialties – super expensive roasted spider leg for one – and Sidon mostly eating from his own stash, as there was nothing that would satisfy his hunger available. They hoped that the town at the entrance to the Lost Woods would have a better selection. After all, the forest there was all misty and damp, so frogs were a likely find.

After they were done eating, they headed to the library.

Librari was sorting books that had been left in the return box overnight, or had possibly been brought in this morning by the early birds. She looked up when they entered, and smiled widely.

"Good morning, Link, Sidon", she said, then blinked rapidly a few times before bonking the side of her head slightly with her fist and then proceeding to sign the same thing.

Link chuckled, and Sidon's smile widened as he answered alike.

'So, Hero Museum?' Link asked as they reached the counter. He noticed a couple of thick pamphlets that were clearly about the museum on the desk; their covers had a very detailed drawing of what seemed to be a set of artifacts on a table, which was why he drew that conclusion.

Librari smiled again, and grabbed the pamphlets from the desk. She handed one to each of them. 'Yes! You can keep those pamphlets. I'll be giving you a tour and I'll explain a lot of things, but the highlights are also on those papers if you want to follow along or read them again later. Now follow me!'

Sidon and Link looked at each other as she scurried towards a door in the back. They followed her, and Sidon cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Ah, please excuse me, Librari", he said, and she turned towards him with an expectant expression. Link winced inwardly. "We appreciate your effort, but unfortunately we cannot read Minish."

She stared at him silently for a beat, and then she blushed scarlet and did her cute hand wiggle thing. "Oh no! I'm so sorry! I should have known that, since you did kind of imply it yesterday, but I just didn't catch on! Aaah, I keep doing dumb things with you two! I'm so, so sincerely sorry!"

Again, Link forgave her instantly because she was just so damn adorable when she was flustered. He was glad he didn't have to interact with her on a daily basis, because he could see himself becoming something of a bully for her, just so she would be cute like that often.

Sidon waved his hands at her with a grimace. "No, it's alright! We don't mind! We'll simply listen to you attentively so we'll remember it all!"

Okay, what was better than one flustered cutiepie? Two flustered cutiepies. Though of course Link would take Sidon over Librari any day.

Eventually his show ended, and a meek Librari led them to the museum proper. Link looked around in amazement.

There were paintings. There were figurines. There was a pair of clawed mittens, a cane of some kind, a pair of winged shoes, a cape, as well as some other artifacts that he couldn't quite make out from his vantage point at the doorway. There was also a big statue in the middle of the room that depicted a heroic looking Hylian child holding a sword up high and wearing a cap that had a bird's head at the tip.

Link stared at it intently, something niggling at him at the very back of his mind, somewhere even beyond his lost memories. If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost hear the bird cap talking, berating him for something or another… taking unnecessary risks, riding too fast on a mine cart… And giving him advice on the next breath... he should use the Cane of Pacci to flip the Spiked Beetles around to access their vulnerable belly... He could picture the voice so clearly that it was kind of scary…

"Link?"

Link blinked a few times to get out of his trance and then turned to give a concerned looking Sidon a questioning look.

"Are you alright? You spaced out quite thoroughly."

Link smiled and nodded, then gestured towards the statue. 'A Hylian kid. Got distracted.'

Sidon gave the statue an intrigued look, but was stopped from asking further questions by Librari clapping her hands.

"Okie dokie! Let's begin the tour!" she said excitedly, and belatedly remembered to sign the same thing.

Link and Sidon lined up behind her politely, and let her do her thing.

She told them a story of a Hylian Hero who stopped the original Vaati from accidentally destroying Hyrule in his quest for power. She told them of a Hylian Princess who got turned into stone and who was the guardian of a holy power. Of a Minish archmage who got turned into a talking cap. Of a sword that got imbibed with elemental magics and could multiply its wielder and seal away evil. Of a grand adventure where the Hero and the archmage traveled all around Hyrule to collect the sacred artifacts to power up the sword. They had already heard some of it from Histori yesterday, but having the whole picture was something else.

They were shown gorgeous paintings that depicted the adventure. Amazingly detailed figurines of ancient monsters and people – said figurines were replicas of the ones the Hero had allegedly purchased during his journey for some reason. They were shown a pair of mole clawed mittens the Hero had used to dig his way through obstacles, a magical cane that flipped heavy objects upside down without breaking them, and a lantern that always burned without the need of fuel. There was a pot-like object with handles that Librari said produced a sucking wind – Link mentally likened them to the Octoroks at Death Mountain. There was a pair of winged shoes that gave their user a burst of speed, a pair of flippers that made swimming easier, and a cape that made it possible to jump across wide chasms. A pair of bracelets that made their wearer stronger, and a ring that gave a better grip for climbing. Link could have used many of those items to make his own journey a little easier.

Finally, at the end of the room on top of a fancy pedestal was a green cap. The Minish Cap. The one Ezlo had made, Vaati had stolen, and that had restored the balance in the end.

Or a very convincing, magically enhanced replica of it anyway.

"Most people honestly think this is the real deal", Librari said with a mischievous smile. "And that's what we want them to think in order to keep the real one safe. I'm only telling you this because I trust you to not tell a soul, so please keep it to yourself."

Link hoped she wouldn't make it a habit to tell this to all the big people who would visit the Minish in the future, no matter how far into the future that might be.

Speaking of visitors, his ear twitched as he picked up a quiet sound of footsteps from the direction of the door. Well, their tour was almost over so Librari could deal with the other patrons soon enough. He went back to examining the hat. It glowed faintly in a similar manner to the newly picked up kinstones, so Link assumed it had the same enchantment on it. Maybe that was because the original hat was – from what he had gathered – some sort of a wish fulfilling item as well, so having a similar spell on the fake one made it more believable?

"Where is the real one, then?" Sidon asked, and then chuckled in embarrassment. "Ah, pardon my silly question. Of course you wouldn't tell us, and we have no actual need to know."

Librari waved her hand. "No worries. All things considered, you may just need to know. It's been passed down as a priceless heirloom in Ezlo's line all this time. It's a funny coincidence, actually. You see, Ezlo's grandson was the one who-"

She got interrupted by Link pulling out his sword and whirling around to point it at the intruders who had been trying to quietly sneak behind them instead of staying in the library. It was the sneaking that made him react, and it was a good thing he did: The four intruders were pale faced, had bleached hair and wore purple clothes. Three of them had a large sack each in their hands, and the last one was holding a rod of some kind. Very obvious Vaatians, and very obviously up to no good.

"Damn! Get them!" the one with the rod said, and unleashed an ice beam at Link.

Librari screamed. Sidon jumped in front of her and readied his claws, not having the time to pull out his spear. The Vaatians with the sacks jumped forward. Link deflected the ice beam with the side of his sword, sending the ray to freeze a painting on the wall instead, but also leaving his sword frosty and heavy.

Sidon swiped at the first Vaatian who reached him, shredding the sack with his deadly claws but getting his arm trapped in the cloth tatters at the same time. Link swung his sword at the Vaatian with the rod, making the Minish jump backwards to avoid him. Librari whimpered and tried to escape from Sidon's Vaatian-free side, only to get pushed prone by Sidon's attempt to pull his arm free while snarling with bared fangs at the other Vaatians, who were hesitant to approach such a large and scary looking creature.

Link swung his sword again, but the ice on it caused him to overbalance and the Vaatian wizard dodged his strike easily enough, and promptly sent another ray of frost at him. Link narrowly dodged it, and heard a scream from behind him. He couldn't see the others from his peripheral vision anymore and couldn't afford to turn to look, so he had no idea who got hit. It hadn't sounded like Sidon, at least.

He made another swing at the Minish wizard, who was forced to parry with the rod. Except the rod didn't snap in half like Link had expected. No, it sparkled at the contact and the Master Sword started freezing over at a rapid pace, forcing Link to let go of the handle because he didn't want to risk being frozen solid himself.

Shit.

The frozen sword clattered on the floor, and the floor in its immediate vicinity froze over, trapping the sword.

Double shit.

Link dodged behind a pedestal that held a boomerang, and the pedestal froze over immediately after. He made sure to not lean against the ice block and took a risky second to look in Sidon's direction.

Librari was nowhere to be seen, but one of the Vaatians was wrestling with a filled sack, so she was probably there. The other two were harassing Sidon: one still had Sidon's right arm trapped in the shredded sack, but was also hanging on to it for dear life while Sidon ignored them completely, unbothered by such a tiny nuisance. The other Vaatian had ditched their sack and was holding a sturdy looking pole-arm and was doing an admirable job keeping Sidon too busy to help Link or Librari, and from reaching for any of his weapons.

The floor under Link's feet froze over, and he jumped hurriedly to the side. One of his boots got stuck on the ice and was left behind, also making Link stumble and crash land, slightly hurting his right shoulder.

He rolled behind another pillar just in time to avoid an icy fate. Making a split-second decision, because he needed a damn weapon that wasn't the bow secured a bit too well on his back, he gave the pillar a quick push and made whatever it held drop on the floor. The pillar was frozen a mere moment later, and ice began to spread on the floor again.

Link jumped, rolled, grabbed a stick of some kind, and got behind the Hero statue.

He examined his new weapon. It was made of light wood and it had a hook on top. The Cane of Pacci.

Link smirked.

He could work with this.


	34. Oh no, are you having a seizure?

The Hero statue started to freeze over. A pained grunt sounded in the air, and Link recognized the voice as Sidon's.

Hylia damn it!

Link grabbed the only boot he had left and tossed it to the right, as far as he could. An ice ray followed immediately, and Link took the opportunity to jump to the left, leaving his shelter. He locked his sight on his enemy, who was looking confusedly in the wrong direction now.

Hah, sucker! Clearly they weren't used to competent opponents.

Link pointed the Cane of Pacci at the Vaatian wizard, and the knowledge of how to use it filled his brain, like he had done this a million times before. He fired, and hit the Vaatian in the chest.

The Vaatian's tunic turned upside down, locking his arms up and blocking his entire head from view completely. The rod dropped on the floor and froze it over, making the Vaatian's shoeless feet get stuck on the ice up to their calves. The rod itself stayed on top of the ice, unaffected.

Link ran forward, slid over the frozen spot on the floor with his socked feet, and grabbed the rod with his free hand as he passed by. As soon as his feet hit solid floor, he ran in Sidon's direction.

The sack with Librari in it had been tied up and was wriggling uselessly on the floor. Two of the remaining Vaatians were attacking Sidon, whose right thigh had a dagger sticking out of it. The missing Vaatian was an unconscious heap on the base of the pedestal that had held the Minish Cap replica, which was currently on the floor next to them.

One of Sidon's attackers was the polearm user and they were still keeping Sidon busy, despite him having two arms to use now. The other one was standing to the side, wiggling their fingers.

Damn, another wizard.

Link lifted the ice rod and tried to make it work, but didn't know how to. It wasn't a Wizzrobe rod so simply swishing it in the right direction apparently wasn't enough, and his brain didn't seem to magically contain the necessary information, either. He lifted the Cane of Pacci then, and shot a beam at the wizard. Unfortunately, his aim with weapons like this wasn't as good while he was on the move, so he only turned their hat inside out and upside down.

Thankfully, it was enough to break their concentration. They yelped in surprise and grabbed their hat, most likely out of reflex.

Link took the final leap necessary and tackled them to the ground, tossing his weapons to the side as he did – he made sure the ice rod was tossed far away so that it wouldn't cause any trouble. They wrestled for a brief moment, but Link was clearly the more experienced one and overpowered the Vaatian easily. He knocked their head against the floor harshly to render them unconscious, and then scrambled up to look at Sidon's situation.

He was just in time to see Sidon's jaw snap the damn sturdy polearm into two like it was a mere twig, and then the last Vaatian was grabbed and tossed violently against a wall. They did not get up.

That was all of them. Link checked each one briefly to make sure they were still harmless – the wizard had gotten their tunic righted but was still stuck to the floor – and upon confirming it ran to Sidon.

"Link!" Sidon called when he was done doing the same check. He grabbed Link into a bear-hug as soon as he was within arm's reach.

Link returned the hug fiercely.

Sidon was okay. Mostly anyway.

"They almost ambushed us!" Sidon said, when he was done squeezing the breath out of Link. "Weren't the guards supposed to be on the lookout for Vaatians?"

Link shook his head, equally baffled. Then he heard a frantic shuffling sound, and turned to look at the sacked Librari guiltily. He had completely forgotten about her for a moment.

Sidon let him down and they both went to free her. She was breathing rapidly and her eyes were the size of saucers.

"Librari. It's alright now", Sidon said soothingly and helped her sit up. "We took care of them."

Librari shook her head, refusing to look anything but panicked. "They heard- they heard-"

"Calm down", Sidon said, and crouched down with a poorly hidden wince. Right, the dagger was still there. That needed looking at as soon as possible. "Breathe first, then-"

"They heard about the cap!"

...She was probably right. She had lowered her voice but hadn't been particularly quiet, and the Vaatians had been right behind them at the time.

Time to make sure they didn't run and go tell the others, then.

Link took the sack and turned to check on the incapacitated Vaatians. Unconscious. Unconscious. Unconscious or potentially dead. And the wizard he had grappled with at first-

Damn. There was a puddle and a sizzling scroll on the spot where the wizard had been, and Link could see the tail-end of a purple cape disappear through the door.

He took off running, not wasting time signing his intentions. He dropped the sack and grabbed a frozen boomerang off the floor on his way, not having the time to pick up either of the rods, as they weren't in his direct path, or to thaw his sword.

It would have to do.

As a side note, he needed to start carrying an additional weapon that was always within easy reach. A dagger, maybe.

He ran through the door and saw the Vaatian at the doorway that led out of the library. They stopped there for a moment and turned around, locking their eyes with Link.

They smirked, pulled some kind of a tag off their cape, and suddenly their appearance changed into that of an average Minish. Link froze on the spot in shock.

The Vaatian turned tail and ran out of library. Link cursed under his breath and followed, pushing himself to run as fast as he could.

"Help!" The Vaatian shouted as soon as Link reached the doorway. They were at the end of the hallway that had two frozen, spear carrying Minish by it. That explained the lack of guards. "Vaatians are attacking the museum!"

Damn it! And people would buy that, too; Link was the only one who knew they were lying! Or well, not lying, but certainly bending the truth.

He threw the frozen boomerang, hoping against hope to hit the Vaatian while he still saw them. It flew through the air clumsily, weighed down by the frost and unbalance because of the spot Link's hand had thawed. It clattered uselessly against a wall off to the side, not even making it to the end of the hallway.

Cursing under his breath for the second time, Link took running again, only to almost collide with two unfrozen guards who came running from around the corner the Vaatian had turned.

"Hey, watch it!" the guard he almost ran into barked, and grabbed his shoulders to keep them both upright.

This was his chance to alert them. He needed to make it quick before the Vaatian escaped. He wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the other Minish, but this guard should be easily able to.

"No, the-", he started, but then his mind registered the unfamiliar and stern face of this utter stranger, and his words stuck in his throat and made him unable to even breathe, much less talk.

No...!

No! Not now! This was important! His voice needed to work, Hylia damn it!

He coughed and tried to get the air to flow into his lungs, but his throat was completely locked up and his breathing got harder the more he thought about his urgent need to speak.

The stranger looked at him in concern, and then reached out to pat his back. "Hey, hey! Calm down! Oh no, are you having a seizure?"

No, damn it!

Link gave up on breathing and started signing rapidly. This guard needed to know. They needed to know the culprit was escaping with important information!

He was met with a bewildered look of complete cluelessness.

They didn't understand him.

Link couldn't speak or even breathe and they couldn't understand his signing.

The Vaatian was getting away and there was nothing he could do to stop them. No way to alert these people that the real problem was running away, looking the same as any Minish out there.

Link wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the bystanders even if he followed them now. Unlike Sidon, he still couldn't tell most of the Minish apart from each other.

And Sidon hadn't seen their face.

Frustrated tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, making the situation even worse.

He didn't even have his sword.

No…

He sank to his knees, much to the alarm of the Minish guard.

His vision was greying around the edges due to the lack of air. He closed his eyes, forced himself to forget about his failure, and concentrated on breathing.

No matter how bad the situation was, at the very least he would not faint. That never helped.

He blocked the guard's concerned questions out and breathed through his nose.

Just breathe.

Air. Sweet air. He forced himself to breathe slowly. Calmly. To not think.

His heart rate slowed.

The anxiety eased.

The air flowed easily into his lungs and back out.

His mind worked better.

Calmer.

Yes, he had failed. There was no helping that now.

Now. Now he needed Sidon. They needed to regroup, lick their wounds, gather their supplies, and get back to moving.

Link took one more deep breath, gathered himself, and stood up. Then he finally looked at the guard, nodded, slapped his shoulder gently, and turned to head back to the library.

Time to get his sword and his boyfriend.

ooooo

Upon arriving to the museum – with the guard on his heels – he took stock of the situation at hand.

Librari was talking to the other guard, who had continued on without heeding Link and their partner. A smart decision, really, as they hadn't know what the situation here was, and Link was just one guy that the other guard could easily deal with.

Sidon had stuffed two of the unconscious Vaatians into their own sacks, and was in the process of doing the same to the last one. He still had the dagger sticking from his thigh, which was half relieving because it meant he hadn't been dumb enough to take it out and bleed to death, but half worrying because the idiot was using the leg like nothing was wrong and probably making the wound worse.

The Master Sword was still frozen to the floor.

The museum itself was in disarray with ice all over the place and priceless artifacts littered on the floor.

...He had left the boomerang in the hallway. Oops.

The guard who had come with him hurried over to their partner and Librari.

Where should he even begin unraveling the mess?

He glanced at the sword, then at Sidon.

As if that was a tough choice.

He went over to Sidon and tapped his arm once his boyfriend was done tying the sack closed.

Sidon turned to him, and let out a relieved sigh and then smiled. "I'm glad to see you unharmed. Did you catch her?"

The wizard was a woman? Okay then. He plain and simply couldn't tell for the life of him.

Link shook his head regretfully. 'No. She turned into a regular Minish and ran off. Things got… complicated, and I couldn't follow.'

Sidon frowned, giving him a worried look from head to toe.

'I'm fine', Link said, and gestured at the dagger on Sidon's thigh. 'You're not. You should not be walking around and crouching and what have you. You need a medic.'

Sidon sighed, and stood up with a wince, avoiding putting too much of a strain on the injured leg. "I know. I had no choice. Librari was in no condition to secure these villains, and I couldn't risk them running off, too. I'm sure there is a healer around who can fix me right up. That apprentice of Mageri's, for example."

'I don't think he's good enough', Link said with a frown.

Sidon tried to smile at him, but it was more like a grimace. Guess the adrenaline was running out and that dagger was finally starting to really hurt. "He's better than nothing if there doesn't happen to be anyone else. But enough about me. We should talk to the guards. Librari is telling them her version of the story, but we have a lot more to add. You especially. Come on."

Sidon made a move to walk, but Link blocked his path. 'No. No more walking. I'll get them here.'

Sidon looked ready to argue for a second, but then clearly saw the wisdom in Link's words, and simply nodded. He leaned against the closest pedestal to take his weight off his leg, and Link nodded in approval before turning around to fetch the guards and Librari.

Time to try communicating with them again. At least this time he had translators available.

He couldn't wait to be big and more readily understood again, damn it.


	35. Now, what's our next move?

"-and then you showed up, and I was unable to tell you what was going on. You know the rest", Sidon finished translating Link's words to the guards.

The guard Link had ran into had apologized profoundly for his inability to understand Link, and seemed to still think it was his fault the Vaatian got away. Link felt sorry for him, but there was little he could do to help. At least the other one still had her head in the game, and was taking notes.

"I see. Thank you", she said as she finished writing. "Our apologies for letting things escalate like this. We were on the watch-out for Vaatians, but we didn't know they wore disguises. They have never done that before, nor have they attempted a heist during the daytime. I'm sorry you got involved."

Sidon gave a tight, somewhat pained smile and waved his hand dismissively. "We're just glad we were here to stop the situation from getting worse. Now, could I trouble you to fetch a medic, please?"

"Of course. My partner will stay here to guard you", she said, saluted, and left.

Link rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why he had thought for a second that he wouldn't have to get involved in the Vaatian business was beyond him.

'I'll see if I can't get my sword off the floor', he signed to Sidon, and stalked off, leaving him with the remaining guard and Librari. At the very least he needed to make sure he was ready if anything else suddenly came up.

He walked over to the icy patch where his sword was stuck and stared at the frozen weapon in contemplation. The ice had not melted at all during this time, so it was clearly magical and was not going to do it on its own anytime soon. Time to get creative, then. At least he had become a master of that skill during his previous adventure.

The Vaatian had used a fire spell of some kind, judging from the burnt remains of a scroll. So, he needed fire, potentially the magical kind. He had his fire arrows, but his supply was limited and he might need them later for a much more dire situation. He could start a fire, but he would need something to burn and he wasn't sure if non-magical fire would be enough anyway.

His eyes wandered around the room, and landed on the lantern of the child Hero. It was burning. Librari had said it never went out, so it was definitely magical.

Perfect.

Link went over to it and picked it up. The moment he did, he saw a vivid image of it being used to melt ice blocks, and heard the same voice from before – from his strange vision while looking at the statue – even say as much. Huh. At least it was guaranteed to work, then. As a side note, he needed to tell Zelda he was hearing voices and seeing memories again. He was pretty sure these ones weren't even his own, which was worrisome.

He shrugged the thought off for now, and took the lantern over to his sword. He held it close to the ice and concentrated, and what do you know, the ice melted instantaneously. He grinned, picked the sword up, and gave it a good shake to get most of the water off.

Finally something was working out again.

He dried the sword on his tunic and sheathed it, and then went around the room, melting each ice spot littering the place. He noted that the guard returned with another Minish, and they made a beeline to Sidon. Link paused his work to watch the healing process begin, Sidon participating like he had at the Magic Academy yesterday. Good, that was being taken care of.

By the time Sidon was healed, Link had not only melted all the ice, but had also tidied up the place to his best ability – and picked up his boots while he was at it. He wasn't usually the tidiest person, but he had needed to do something useful to keep himself too busy to dwell on his failure or to worry about Sidon.

Link put the mole mitts back on their pedestal and turned around when Sidon walked up to him with a cheerful smile. "Link! I got to practice healing again."

Link couldn't help an incredulous smile of his own. Sidon had had a dagger on his thigh and this whole disaster in general had happened, yet he was still cheerful as ever. Then again, this was one of the reasons Link had fallen for him.

'That's great', Link said, and checked the recently healed spot. A few scales were missing, exposing bare red skin, but there were no other signs of a stab wound ever having been there. 'Is it sore?'

Sidon shrugged. "A little. Nothing you need to worry about. Now, what's our next move?"

Wasn't that the question?

'We can't give chase, we won't be able to recognize the Vaatian and we don't know where she's going', Link said. 'We don't know if we were the targets or if they wanted Librari, or maybe even the cap. So we can't stay here, and just have to trust the guards to protect her better.'

That was a bitter elixir to swallow. His heroic nature didn't like it at all. But needs must.

'Our best move is to continue our journey without any delay and maybe hope to find the Vaatian hideout on our way. Histori said it was probably in the Lost Woods.'

Sidon nodded with a frown. "Sound plan, except for the part about the Vaatian hideout. I don't think we should involve ourselves any more than we have to. I sympathize with the Minish, but this is not our battle. If they wanted our help, they would ask for it, I'm certain. At the very least we should talk to Gentari and volunteer our services instead of acting on our own. That's the polite and diplomatic thing to do."

Link gave him a blank look, but said nothing. He knew Sidon was right. Probably. But he didn't like it one bit. For one, it was still a struggle for him to accept that not everything was his problem to solve, especially when he had already been attacked once. Another thing was asking for permission to act when he knew the necessary details already; it was one thing to volunteer to help in order to learn what he needed to solve the problem in question, and a completely different thing to go tell someone he was doing a thing when he didn't need more info. Zelda had tried to mold him into a proper knight again during their time together rebuilding her kingdom, but he had grown too wild during his adventure to be able to be tamed anymore. It had taken him his whole adolescent life of training to become a knight, but only a memory loss and roughly a year to unlearn all of the discipline.

He wasn't about to waste their time having an audience with Gentari.

'Fine. No looking for the Vaatians. But we can and will punch them in the face if we encounter any.'

Sidon laughed, and gave Link's shoulder an affectionate pat. "Yes, we can most certainly do that! Let's go say goodbye to Librari and ask her to apologize to Histori in our stead for not doing the same with her."

Link simply nodded.

ooooo

It took them a disappointingly short time to get out of the city. Even though they really had to leave, Link would be lying if he said he hadn't wanted to explore it more in-depth. It was such a big city with so many interesting shops, workshops, and sights. He had wanted to go deeper into the rock and see what it was like beyond the city hall, in the deeper depths. He had wanted to take a proper look at the outer city, since they had spent most of their time in the inner one. But oh well. Definitely next time. He'd be visiting Sidon here often during his magic studies, so maybe it was for the best that there were still sights to be seen. Sidon could probably even be his personal guide at that point.

That thought brought a smile on Link's face as they finally stepped out of the city gates and back into the road. They had been informed that they had missed the mouse cart to this direction by an hour, so it'd take them three or so hours to reach the resting spot between the cities. They might still get lucky and be able to catch one from there to hasten their way to the next city, and if their luck lasted Slateri would still be there, although Link wasn't holding his breath for that.

They walked down the well-worn Minish path, chattering away. Link made damn sure to use his voice the entire time, both because they were alone again and because he was bitter about earlier. Maybe he'd be able to speak to random people again if he just got used to vocalizing first.

The three hours went by fast. They had to make a small detour at one point because there were stray ants on the path and they weren't keen on seeing whether they'd be friendly or not, but other than that they didn't run into any trouble. A mouse cart back to the capital passed them two hours in, filled with happy looking Minish. Link couldn't help but be slightly wary until they were long gone – after all, any of them could have been disguised Vaatians. Although it was quite honestly more likely that the cart they had missed earlier had had their escapee on it, and Link wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Regardless, they arrived to the flowery resting spot in a timely manner, and were pleasantly surprised to discover what amounted to a large barbecue party. Most of the adult Minish around the resting spot – no, rather an actual camping area – were around large, lit fire-pits, holding skewers of food over them, or using the hanging pots that were fixed into rotatable metal poles for cooking their food. Once something was cooked, it was shared after the cook took the portion they wanted for themselves. It was like the entire camp was one big family, overriding the obvious actual families and cliques around.

Link and Sidon looked at each other with large smiles, and wasted no time joining everyone, bringing their more exotic offerings gathered from the previous towns and from the big people world with them.

Some of the Minish were wary, some were curious, some were plain excited, but most importantly, whatever they felt about the famous big people, nobody turned them away or left in a hurry. And food was shared enthusiastically.

Link decided that this was the highlight of their adventure and it couldn't possibly get better than this. All the food. All. The. Food. He got to taste many different things cooked by many a different Minish, and it was all in one meal. He hadn't had this large a selection to sample from since Zelda's coronation.

It was decided. He would travel all around Hyrule, collect all the different fruit, meats and herbs, and return here to do some mad food sharing the first chance he got. It was only fair. And he'd get to eat new things again.

He signed as much to Sidon as they sat on a log eating their haul. Sidon had found himself some roasted frog tongue and even a boiled chunk of sneaky river snail, miraculously enough. His stomach should be more than happy with that.

"That's an excellent idea!" Sidon said with a wide smile as soon as he had swallowed what had been in his mouth. "Perhaps we can do that together before I apprentice to Mageri? I should have my Sheikah Slate's warp catalog more than ready for some quick food gathering at that point, wouldn't you say?"

Link nodded, and leaned contentedly against his boyfriend's side as they continued eating, peaceful and unbothered by Vaatians or any other pesky troubles.

Just Link, Sidon, and good food. Simply perfect.


	36. Do you remember her words?

Link grinned at Sidon, way more excited than the occasion probably deserved. He watched as a batch of Minish unloaded themselves from the mouse cart, and finally the person driving it signaled for the waiting people, Link and Sidon included, to come forward and board it.

Why yes, after they had finished eating and gotten ready to continue their journey, a helpful Minish had stopped them and informed them that the mouse cart to the next city should arrive within the next ten or so minutes. Obviously they had chosen to wait for that instead, both because it saved them a five hour walk and turned it into a two hour ride, and because of course they wanted to try the mouse cart when the opportunity was there. Link had no way of knowing for sure, but he trusted that none of the Minish they had dined with were Vaatians; surely they would have caused trouble already if they were going to. So, sitting in the cart with them for about two hours didn't feel like an awful idea this time around, unlike the ride from the Capital to here would have been.

Link and Sidon were guided to sit in the middle of the cart for balance reasons – Sidon was about three times the size of an average Minish, after all – and soon enough the cart was full and the journey began.

It was very similar to traveling on a horse cart, except for the fact that the ride was bumpier and faster, as the mice pulling the cart scurried along without the proper rhythm that horses were trained for. It was still a cool thing to experience and Zelda would no doubt want to try it.

The beginning was quiet, as both he and Sidon were preoccupied with the experience and watching the quickly passing scenery. But eventually Sidon turned to him, and to his surprise started signing.

'There's something that has been bothering me, but I don't think it should be talked about out loud', he said, and Link frowned. He had no idea what to expect.

'Okay? What is it?'

Sidon looked around, probably to check for eavesdroppers – as useless as that was – before continuing. 'Librari was telling us about the Minish Cap and Ezlo's family right when we got attacked. It seemed important, but I forgot to ask her about it before we left, so now I'm wondering what it was she was about to reveal. Do you remember her words?"

Link certainly hadn't expected this topic; he could honestly say he hadn't given a single thought to that subject in the first place. He made a "hold on" gesture and thought back to that situation. At least juggling different quests during his grand adventure had taught him to remember everything said to him really well. Hmm… They had been looking at the Cap, and Librari told them it was a fake one. The real one was with Ezlo's descendants, a family heirloom. And… And she had said that they just might need this information. Something about a funny coincidence. Then Ezlo's grandson was the one who did something, but she never got to tell them what that was.

He nodded at Sidon, and signed the main points as a reference in case he didn't remember something or remembered the details differently. Sidon nodded seriously.

'That's what I recall as well', he said, and looked around again. Really, he sucked at being sneaky while talking about sensitive subjects; it was damn good that nobody around understood sign language, because otherwise everyone and their mothers would surely eavesdrop simply out of curiosity. 'So, if the Cap's whereabouts is something we might need to know and it's a funny coincidence, what do you think it means?'

Link wasn't sure that was the part she referred to with the coincidence. In his opinion it was about Ezlo's grandson, or his line in general. She thought they needed to know that the Cap was with Ezlo's descendant. And then it was coincidental that the grandson did something. He signed his thoughts to Sidon and then tried to puzzle it out. What did the grandson do? Or rather, "was the one" who did something, he thought were her exact words. What would be a funny coincidence that presumably had something to do with-

Oh!

His eyes widened and he turned to jolt Sidon out of his own deep thoughts.

'The only thing Librari really knows about us is our current journey', he signed urgently. 'She knows our main goal is finding Slateri the First. So if the Cap's whereabouts might be important for us to know, it has to have something to do with that.'

Sidon's frown of concentration cleared into a look of understanding. 'Which means Slateris are Ezlo's descendants and have the Cap! Slateri the First probably has it on his person!'

Link nodded enthusiastically. 'Ezlo's grandson was the one who created the Vertical Shift rune for the Sheikah Slate! Ezlo could shrink and grow the Hero of that time, and the rune does exactly the same thing. It makes perfect sense.'

Sidon's grin was miles wide and he looked ecstatic at their collective deductive skills, and probably at the prospect of potentially getting to see the real Cap.

Link shared the feeling… until his thoughts came to a screeching halt as a terrible realization hit him.

They had told practically everyone they met that they were looking for Slateri the First. The news of their arrival and some details of their journey had traveled ahead them and become common knowledge among the Minish. The Vaatians had heard the same speech the two of them had just puzzled through, and one of them had gotten away. There was no reason to believe that they wouldn't reach the same conclusion he and Sidon just did.

That meant, if the Vaatians were after the Cap, Slateri the First had a big target painted on his back now. And he was headed to the Lost Woods, where the Vaatian hideout was rumored to be.

Link paled, and quickly patted Sidon's arm to get his attention again so he could share his worrisome epiphany.

Sidon's exhilaration turned into dread as fast as Link's had. 'We need to catch up to him and warn him! If he's been safe and unbothered until now, he has no reason to be on his guard. He could be ambushed easily!'

Link nodded seriously, and turned to look at the road ahead of them, wishing the mouse cart would go faster.

It looked like their leisure sightseeing trip was officially over.

ooooo

The two hour ride through what was basically a deep misty canyon in their current size felt much longer than that when one was very anxious to reach the destination, but finally it was over. They had reached the gate to the Lost Woods. After a week of wandering the Minish Woods, the forest scenery in the horizon felt shockingly different – where before it had been regular green trees and lush grass and pretty flowers, ahead of them was deep mist, darkness and huge dead trees. The place looked even more imposing now that everything was gigantic and Link couldn't see as far ahead as he had been able to as a big person.

He wondered if the Minish were taken back to the gate the same way the big people were if they got lost in the woods. They would absolutely have to ask someone before they entered, assuming that Slateri wasn't conveniently in this city, which he doubted. They couldn't afford to be taken back to the starting point, not with how long it took to cross any kind of a distance in their mini state. Mind, Link knew exactly how to navigate in the forest as he had done it a few times before, but it was always good to know the risks. ...And he actually didn't know if the forest would guide them the same way it did with big people, now that he thought about it. The Minish might even have their own paths or ways to travel there for all he knew. He half hoped that to be the case, as it would make their journey much easier.

The cart stopped at the edge of the Minish city, which was located at the base of the stone gate. The Minish passengers got off and wandered back to their homes or wherever, but the few people who wanted to take a ride to the camping site had to wait for the mouse cart to be prepared again. From what Link saw before he and Sidon left the area, the mouse and the driver got replaced. Well, for them it was a solid four hour drive back and forth, so that was perfectly reasonable.

Link turned his attention to the city ahead of them. Most of the buildings here resembled toadstools, or at least he really hoped they simply looked like them and weren't actually poisonous mushrooms that had houses carved into them. If that was the case, it sounded like a major health hazard. Although maybe the Minish could actually eat toadstools and it was just Hylians that got sick from them? They'd have to be careful what they ate here, in that case. Regardless, the houses were really charming in their own way.

The two of them walked further in and yes, the buildings were actual mushrooms. Did the Minish use magic keep their houses from rotting? That had to be the case, otherwise it would be simply impractical to live like this.

"The Minish here are very pretty", Sidon stage-whispered to Link, who took that as his cue to stop admiring the architecture and pay attention to the people. When he did, he couldn't help but do a double-take; not because Sidon was necessarily right about the prettiness, but because there was definitely a distinct difference he hadn't been prepared for.

About every other person was a… regular Minish, for the lack of a better word. But the rest looked different. They had roughly the same build, although maybe they were kind of… spindlier, like spiders. And their skin was a sickly shade of blue-ish white and had a different looking texture from the kind of fuzzy skin the Minish they had gotten used to had; it looked slicker, kind of like a frog or a slug or something. Their ears were shorter and their eyes seemed to glow. Now that Link thought about it, they actually looked a bit Zora-like, in a way. It certainly explained why Sidon found them pretty. Link preferred the regular kind, though.

It was weird that there were plenty of the regular Minish here, but they hadn't met a single one of this new kind in the other cities, not even in the Capital, which was both the biggest city and the one closest to this place. There hadn't been any in the camping spot, either. Was there a reason for that?

"Greetings, big people!" a voice said, and the two of them turned to look at the source of it.

The person they saw was the tallest, gangliest, and weirdest looking Minish Link had seen so far. They were one of the new kind, but to Link they looked less like a Zora and more like a blue Moblin with how long their limbs were. They were wearing a leather robe and a tall hat, which Link took to mean they were someone important – the taller the hat, the higher the position seemed to be the theme with the Minish.

The Minish smiled at them, and thrust out a hand eagerly. "My name is Misteri, and I'm the mayor of this town. Pleasure to meet you!"

Sidon took the hand and gave it an enthusiastic shake. This Minish, Misteri, was nowhere near as tall as Sidon, but they were the tallest person they had met, so for once it wasn't completely awkward and inconvenient for Sidon to shake their hand. Sidon introduced the two of them, Link shook Misteri's hand as well, and then they went right to business.

"I came here as soon as I received word of your arrival", Misteri said, looking proud of themselves, probably for their punctuality. "I would like to have an official meeting with you two, and serve you a dinner while we're at it. How about it?"

Link grinned. They had questions that this person could likely answer, and he wasn't going to say no to a free dinner!

He liked this town!


	37. Tell me, are your feet webbed?

Misteri led the two of them through the Toadstool Town, as it was called. The town wasn't very large, especially compared to the capital, which was the last city they had been to, but she used the little time it took for them to walk to the town hall to animatedly talk about her home. She explained how they, indeed, used magic to keep the toadstools preserved, and in some cases even alive if it was known that the building would need more space in the future – the Minish who wanted large families would start with a small house and then let it grow bigger as they had more children. It was very fascinating and practical, and Sidon looked like he wanted to stop and observe the growth with his own two eyes, as silly as that was.

Also, turned out that the local Minish were called Mist Minish, while the "regular" ones were Forest Minish. Rumor had it there were Mountain Minish around the mountains, and Field Minish in the Hyrule Fields. Misteri didn't know if there were Desert Minish in the Gerudo lands, Water Minish in the Zora Kingdom, Jungle Minish in the Faron region, and maybe some specific kind of Minish around the Hylian and Sheikah towns, but assumed it to be so. Link suddenly felt like their mini adventure was woefully inadequate now, since there was so much more to the Minish world to be seen all over Hyrule. He wanted to explore all of it one day. Maybe with Sidon, maybe with Zelda, maybe with both.

It didn't seem like he was going to be running out of adventures anytime soon. Good.

They arrived to the town hall before they could get too deep into their speculations, which may have been for the best.

Said hall was very small. In fact, it seemed more like a-

"Welcome to my home!" Misteri said, arms wide and a smile on her face. Yep, that's what Link had thought. "We don't actually have a set town hall as there really isn't that much of a need for one. It's just the home of however is in charge, and that's been me for the last few years. Make yourselves comfortable; I'll prepare the dinner!"

Link looked around at the inside of the toadstool with suspicion. There was a spot on the wall that looked like it had been repeatedly gouged with a spoon.

'Sidon. Ask her to not use toadstool in her cooking, please.'

ooooo

It took a while for the food to be done, but eventually they were sitting at the dinner table with bowls of some colourful risotto-like food in front of them. Link didn't care what it was as long as it was good, and it was.

"So, rumor has it that you're looking for Slateri the First", Misteri said after a few spoonfuls of food. Link really liked her directness. "If that's the case, then you missed him. He traveled through our town yesterday, and barely even stopped for lunch. Just went right through to Fog City."

That was a bummer. But at least he had been okay yesterday at lunch time. Not that he had had much to worry about at the time, as Librari's accidental information spill happened this morning. Regardless, it was good news.

"I see", Sidon said thoughtfully, stirring his food rather unenthusiastically. Link wagered it didn't do much for his hunger, then. "How long does it take to reach Fog City? We had a map with estimated travel times of the Minish Woods, but it reaches its edge here."

Misteri looked at them thoughtfully. "It takes about eight hours, and there are two camping spots on the way. You could reach the first one by tonight and stay there, if you're in a hurry. Or you could stay here and leave tomorrow morning."

Link shook his head at Sidon's inquiring look. They couldn't afford to waste time anymore. They would go to the first camping spot, maybe even shoot for the second one, depending on how long it took to travel there.

"We can't stay. We have reasons to believe Slateri might be in danger, so we have to make haste", Sidon said apologetically.

Link really hoped Misteri was someone they could actually trust, as that information could very well be the last piece the Vaatians needed to complete the picture, if they hadn't done that on their own yet.

Maybe he should have discussed this with Sidon beforehand. Damn it!

"That doesn't sound good", Misteri said, now frowning. "What is the problem?"

Link waved at Sidon to get his attention. He could still do damage control here at least.

'Don't tell her. We don't know if we can trust her to keep quiet', he signed urgently. 'She's way too ready to tell us things. She might do that with anyone who asks.'

Sidon looked indecisive. Clearly he wanted to simply trust Misteri, but Link hoped he would see the wisdom in caution. They were in deep enough of a mess as it was and should avoid actively digging deeper.

"I'm afraid we cannot tell you", Sidon finally said, and Link relaxed. "We probably shouldn't have said anything at all concerning the subject, so we would appreciate it if you could keep quiet about the worry."

Misteri didn't look happy about the request, but nodded. "Fair enough. I'll not breathe a word. About your trip…"

She stood up and made her way over to another room, leaving her unfinished dinner waiting. Link idly wondered if she had abruptly abandoned some random activity in a similar manner when she heard the news of their arrival. Judging from what he had seen of her conduct so far, he was almost certain of it.

He and Sidon ate in awkward silence while listening to the rustling of papers from the other room. Link finished his bowl and swapped with Sidon so that it looked like Sidon had eaten his meal, and in the process Link got to have seconds. Win-win.

Misteri returned shortly after, holding a large, rolled up paper. She handed it to Sidon and sat down.

"That's a new map for you", she said, and waved her spoon at it. "I wrote down the estimated times on it and drew you a recommended route through the woods, should you not meet Slateri in Fog City. I really hope you do, as the woods are really treacherous for multiple reasons. Oh! That reminds me!"

She turned to look at Link. "I noticed you're wearing shoes. Tell me, are your feet webbed?"

What? Link blinked a few times out of sheer bafflement, before shaking his head as an answer.

"In that case, you will want to purchase bog flippers before you leave the town, or at Fog City at the latest", she said with a knowing nod. "The Lost Woods are really wet and difficult to traverse for Forest Minish, whose feet aren't webbed like ours. You will save yourself a lot of time and effort by wearing the flippers."

Link had paid zero attention to the local Minish's feet and hadn't even noticed that they were, presumably, webbed. That made them even closer to the Zora in appearance than he had initially observed.

Flippers, huh. At least Sidon didn't have to attempt to find shoes his size, since his feet were, in fact, webbed. Finding a fitting pair for him would likely have been a nightmare, since his feet were much larger than that of an average Minish. Link's should be more doable.

"Thank you very much for all of this", Sidon said, smiling brightly. "Your help is truly invaluable!"

Misteri waved a hand, returning the smile. "No problem at all! I'm the mayor; being helpful is my job!"

They chatted lightly while Link and Misteri finished their meals, and then it was time for them to leave. They had flippers to buy and a city to get to as soon as possible.

ooooo

The town really didn't have much going for it except for the pretty houses. There was exactly one food store that sold all the necessities, and then a clothes shop where the flippers could be found among the other Minish wear. Link and Sidon visited that one first, and it turned out to be an excellent decision on their part: Link's flippers had to be made as a commission because his feet were very differently shaped compared to the Minish, so no regular flippers off the shelf fit him. They had to wait for an entire hour for the flippers to be made from the scratch, and doing their other business during that time was a lot more productive than idly waiting would have been, had they visited that shop last.

They spent most of that hour trying to find something for Sidon to eat.

The food store, predictably, didn't have any fish available. The owned told them that usually they had frog parts in their selection, but they were currently fresh out as their provider hadn't been able to catch any for a couple of days now. All they had was frogspawn, which Sidon bought. It was better than nothing.

After that they still had more than half an hour left, so they sat on a public bench and waited. They ate a few of the honey candies they still had, and were a bit bummed about the fact that they were starting to run low on those. They should have bought the entire store empty, after all, no matter how inconvenient it would have been to carry all of it around.

Link watched Sidon move a hard candy around in his mouth as they both tried new flavours. It was frankly mesmerizing and Link's attention focused maybe a little too intently on Sidon's lips because of it. Sweet Hylia. They were actually sitting completely idly for once, so Link would have absolutely loved to spend some of that time kissing Sidon silly. He was pretty sure it would make time pass very quickly indeed. Alas, neither he nor Sidon were big on public displays of affection, so that wasn't an option in the middle of a small town where they were personally The Cool New Thing. ...Maybe the camping spot they were headed to next would be nice and empty…

"Perhaps we should head back now?" Sidon asked, yanking Link out of his pleasant little daydream. Link gave him an inquiring look. "I know it hasn't been an hour yet, but maybe we'll be lucky and the flippers are done already. If not, we may as well wait there instead of here. That way we'll get them as soon as possible."

Link agreed with the plan, although it was a little uncharacteristic of Sidon to be in such a hurry to leave.

As if reading his mind, Sidon chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck after standing up. "Ah, pardon my hastiness. I'm simply worried about… You know. And all the eyes I can feel on us isn't making it any easier."

That did explain it. Sidon was right about the eyes, too; Link felt like he was itching all over because of the not-so-discreet staring by the locals. It was almost worse than what it had been in the Stable Town. Like he said earlier, the two of them were the cool new thing, so everyone was watching their every more in fascination. Well, he hoped it was fascination anyway, and not someone calculating the best way to murder them. That was also an option with the Vaatians around.

'Yes, let's go', he signed, and then stretched and hopped off the bench.

They made their way back to the clothes shop, and were told to keep on waiting a little longer. Unsurprisingly.

They had a lot less eyes on them inside of the shop – none, in fact, as the shopkeeper was busy and they were currently the only customers – so it was a significant victory.

…No eyes on them...

'Sidon, pick me up', Link signed, standing in front of his boyfriend and giving a big grin.

Sidon didn't even ask him any questions, he just happily did as asked and picked Link up with his strong, muscular arms.

Had Link ever mentioned how attracted he was to Sidon's arms? Because damn, those were some nice arms. Sidon had had him at the first flex on the Inogo Bridge.

Link wrapped his legs around Sidon's torso like an Octorok, careful of his gills, and his arms around Sidon's shoulders. Once he was thoroughly lodged on his spot, he looked deep into Sidon beautiful topaz eyes – on that note, he would take his embarrassingly saccharine thoughts to his grave – and puckered his lips.

Sidon gave a soft laugh, glanced quickly towards the front door, and then at the workspace where their currently only company was still busy with Link's flippers, and finally pressed their lips together. Link closed his eyes and was more than happy to give Sidon a good helping of lips sliding against lips, little nips and nibbling from mischievous teeth, and some wandering tongue.

Now this was the best possible way to spend their spare time!


	38. Blisters?

Walking with the bog flippers was something that took some getting used to. They weren't true flippers in the sense of being really long and designed for fast swimming like the flippers they had seen in the Hero Museum – they were longer than Link's feet, yes, and they were wider as well, but they were somewhat wieldy on land. Their purpose was to give the bottoms of his feet a wider surface to balance his weight on, so he wouldn't sink into the muddy and swampy terrain of the Lost Woods. It should, theoretically, help him keep up a better walking speed.

In practise the flippers made him slower than usual due to him having to lift his feet higher to avoid snagging the tips on the underbrush and scooping up dirt with every step, and that was frustrating.

"I think you're steadily gaining speed, Wildberry", Sidon said encouragingly, probably perfectly able to see Link's waning will to keep this up.

They weren't even in the actual swamp yet, so the endeavor felt pointless. He was waddling like a duck and must have looked ridiculous.

"Just remember, you're doing this now so that you won't be struggling with it when the actually swampy terrain begins. I'm sure it's easier to learn how to walk with them when you don't have to fight the land as well as your feet."

Yes, that was the exact reason and it made sense. It had even been Link's own idea. He had had to use many different weapons, clothing, and tactics during his adventures, as well as travel in different terrains, and it had been a tiring experience. While he had been perfectly capable of thinking on his feet and adapting to different situations quickly, it had always been so much easier if he had had the time to familiarize himself with his equipment first. Now he was dealing with a new enemy, a new situation, a new terrain, had someone to protect with him, and had new equipment, so it was definitely smart to attempt to learn as much as he could before the situation got critical. He couldn't afford another disaster like the Hero Museum.

He was lucky that Sidon was an accomplished warrior himself, because if it had been Zelda with him at the museum…

It was better not to think about that.

"I know. Thanks", Link said, and pushed his despair and tiredness away. He would probably lose his morale again after a while, and Sidon would need to repeat his words of encouragement, but that was fine.

As long as he had his boyfriend to cheer him on, he could keep going on forever if he had to.

ooooo

Link hadn't been this glad to see a camping spot since that time he got lost in Gerudo Desert and finally found an oasis right as he had been considering warping away with his Slate and starting his search for the shrine over.

The very first thing he did when he reached the safe spot was plop down on the ground and pull the cursed flippers off his poor feet.

Oh sweet Hylia it was pure bliss. His feet had started aching during their last hour of walking, and he had been getting increasingly tempted to just sit down in the middle of the road and never get up again.

"That bad?" Sidon asked, and crouched down next to him to peer at his feet. "Blisters?"

Link removed his socks to check. His feet were red on the particularly sore spots, but thankfully there wasn't any actual damage anywhere – that would have made tomorrow's walk agony.

...He didn't want to think about having to walk again tomorrow.

"I'll get the fire started", Sidon said, and set his bag down next to Link. "You should just rest up and perhaps massage your feet? Ah, or I could do that when we're ready to retire for the night?"

Link smiled lovingly at his sweet, considerate, and simply perfect boyfriend. "I've got this. Or maybe we'll see about that later. Thanks."

Sidon smiled, saluted cheerfully, and then went to work.

Traveling as a duo had its perks.

ooooo

The next morning Link donned his bog flippers on once more, and they got back to moving. Walking was still a nuisance, but Link thought he was doing a lot better already. At least his feet didn't ache when they reached the second camping spot between the two Minish dwellings, but he did make sure to rest his feet there anyway.

The trip from the camping spot to Fog City was a lot swampier than the road had previously been, which made Link really glad he bought the flippers and familiarized himself with them yesterday – otherwise he would have spent half of the journey up to his knees in mud. His speed lowered again because of the new challenges, but at least he had a good hang on how to keep his balance while lifting his weirdly shaped and heavy feet.

Sidon, on the other hand, had no problem whatsoever with the terrain. He just kind of spread his toes further apart without any fanfare and walked on at his normal speed – or he could have done that anyway, if he wasn't adjusting his pace to Link's snail-like progress. Link tried his level best to not feel bitter about it, and simply concentrated on moving forward one slow step at a time.

It took them double the estimated time to make it to the city, and Link's poor feet were all worn out again. Sidon had even offered to carry him for the last fourth of the journey, but Link was way too stubborn to accept help like that when he was still able to walk. If his leg had been broken? Sure. If walking had actually been painful for some reason? Probably. If he had had blisters? Maybe. But not when his feet were simply achy from the effort. He wasn't in the habit of giving up when he still had fight left in him.

The sight of the city was more than welcome regardless.

Fog City was a lot bigger than the previous town had been. Not as big as the capital, but definitely the second largest Minish dwelling they had been to from the looks of it. Or perhaps third largest – Link didn't know if the underground city by the Muddy Lake had been bigger or smaller since he hadn't exactly been able to look at the whole picture, what with most of the city being hidden. But he chose to believe that Fog City was bigger anyway to make the trip feel more worthwhile.

The city was very pretty. It had toadstool houses as well as skillfully built wooden huts, and even some houses that looked like small, mossy hills with doors and windows. The city floor had been carefully paved with colourful ceramic tiles, and Link could lose the flippers thanks to that. There were some park areas near the edges of the city that had bog holes where the local kids could swim in. Sidon was instantly interested, so they spent a little while with Link sitting on a bench and resting his feet while Sidon chased the kids around the water to everyone's amusement. Link liked the city already, even if the walk there had been less than pleasant.

As much needed as the break had been, they were still on a quest and had to move on after a brief rest. They needed to see if Slateri had made it to the city safely, whether he was still around, and when he had left if he had. They also desperately needed some food for Sidon again – it was truly a constant issue. General information about any unrest in the area wouldn't go amiss either. That, and they forgot to ask Misteri whether the Lost Woods returned them to the entrance if they wandered off the path, and if the big people rules of navigating the forest applied to the Minish. They had a map, yes, but Link wasn't sure how well he'd be able to follow it without being able to cheat with the Sheikah Slate to check their whereabouts – he had forgotten how to read a map during his hundred year nap, and learning to navigate with the Slate's easy system had made following his progress on regular maps challenging to him. He hoped Sidon was better at it than he was, or else they'd have to cross their fingers and hope to not get too lost.

As they got ready to move on, Sidon asked the kids he had been playing with for directions to the city hall. They were told to "go to the marketplace and then to the right and there's a huge building there and you should talk to at least one of the Festaris there". Link found the advice more than a little dubious and confusing, but they figured they could at least go to the marketplace and work their way from there. They could look for food suitable for Sidon there, so it was useful anyway.

They walked the colourfully paved path through the Minish neighbourhoods until they reached the city central and the marketplace.

Link's jaw dropped.

The marketplace was enormous! There was a huge building-free area in what Link assumed to be the very heart of the city, and it was filled with booths, tents, and stands of all kinds. Delicious aromas wafted to Link's nose as they walked closer, and he promptly forgot all about their quest of finding the city hall. He wanted to try everything and see everything!

"Link, look!" Sidon said, bouncing with enthusiasm and pointing towards a tent made out of waxy leaves. Link did as asked and saw that it was one of the food tents, and the plaque hanging from the edge of the roof had a drawing of a fried frog on it.

They had found a Sidon-friendly food tent right away. It might not help stock up for the journey through the woods – it probably wouldn't anyway, but they could always ask – but it would most certainly fill his stomach right now.

Link shared a happy grin with his boyfriend, and they wasted no time getting to the tent, perusing the menus, ordering food, and finding seats. Sidon's stomach was growling in anticipation practically nonstop, and together they had ordered every single item on the menu to sample – they were both starving, and Sidon absolutely wasn't against carrying some leftovers with him and snacking on them later today. Frankly, he deserved a day of constant snacking after roughly a week of mostly rationing.

"Lucky, wasn't it?" Sidon asked, while arranging a napkin neatly on his lap. "I hope this means we can also find a stall that sells some preserved frog or tadpoles. Maybe even some sneaky river snail, since that Minish on the barbecue party had to have bought it somewhere. Perhaps here? Do you think they'll have actual fish here? I would trade my left arm for some Hyrule bass."

'Maybe try rupees first', Link signed with a smirk, and refrained from pointing out that the Lost Woods didn't have any rivers or lakes within its borders, so the chances of anyone having fish for sale were practically nonexistent. It didn't hurt Sidon to dream a little as long as he didn't expect too much – and he wouldn't after the last few days.

They conversed lightly and watched the buzzing marketplace around them until their food arrived. Multiple plates of it. Maybe they had overdone it just a smidgen? Oh well. Link could sample the other things the marketplace had to offer when it was dinnertime, after they were done with their actual business here.

For now, the two of them happily dug into their fried, boiled, deep fried, sauteed, pureed and grilled frog parts without a worry in the world. It was nice to have things go their way for once.


	39. Unrest? Foreign? What?

"Excuse me, sir? Where can we find the city hall?"

Link looked around the nearby stalls with great interest while Sidon had a conversation with the least busy looking Minish they had spotted from the food tent they had just exited. Ah, he really wanted to forget all about their quest and simply mill around and do some souvenir shopping! Or just shopping, without necessarily needing to tack on the part about souvenirs – he liked buying things to himself the most, if he was being honest.

Everything looked so neat! From where he was standing he saw a stall that sold little braided bracelets, another that sold baskets, and one that had some kind of wooden objects that he couldn't see well from where he was. And that was just the stalls he could see! The marketplace had looked enormous from a distance, so who knew what kind of treasures he would find with a little time to explore.

"Link?"

He turned his wistful gaze away from the wood object stall and looked at his boyfriend.

"I got the directions", Sidon said, looking pleased with himself. "Shall we head that way? We need to walk right through the marketplace, so we can look around a little as we move."

Now that was more like it! He nodded with a large grin, and motioned for Sidon to lead the way.

They walked down the packed alleys between the tents and stalls, and both had their heads swiveling back and forth as they tried to take everything in while walking. There were food tents that Link was dying to get samples from, despite being more than full at the moment. There were stalls that sold different kinds of foods to stock up with, and they'd have to browse those better later. There were booths with pottery, paintings, jewelry, toys, clothes, mats, furniture, and even weapons. In fact, Link tapped on Sidon's arm to get him to stop at the last one in the list.

'I want a knife, maybe', he signed, and pushed himself through the throng of curious kids who were admiring the weapons with stars in their eyes. The Minish behind the booth looked pleased to see someone who would potentially be a real customer…

Hold on.

The Minish looked different from any of the others Link had seen so far. Their build was stockier while they were taller than the others, their skin was a little darker, and their hair, unhidden by a hat and instead bound with a bandanna, was thick and blond. They were most definitely neither a Forest Minish nor a Mist Minish.

"I'll allow staring this once, but only because I'm doing the same", the Minish said with a thick accent of some kind. "Hi, I'm Wanderi. You're the big people everyone's abuzz about."

'Link', Link signed without thinking, and was met with a politely quizzical look. Right.

"A pleasure to meet you, miss Wanderi", Sidon said, rescuing him once more. "I'm Prince Sidon, and this is Link. Is your business doing well?"

Small talk. Of course. Link tore his eyes away from the strange Minish and looked at her wares instead while keeping an ear out for the conversation. Her selection was fascinating. There were wooden spears, clubs, and quarterstaves, swords and daggers with odd green blades that Link thought might be leaves of some kind, daggers and spears with thorns as the blades, and also a few real iron weapons.

"Better than usual, actually", Wanderi said, sounding delighted. "I think it's the recent unrest. The local guards upgraded their weapons at my shop just this morning, so my so called foreign stock is pretty low now."

Link looked up from the weapons.

'Unrest? Foreign? What?' he asked Sidon, who nodded at him.

"Could you tell us more about this unrest? We arrived just today and have yet to catch the news", Sidon said.

Wanderi nodded, and idly picked up a sword to fiddle with. "I don't know much, really. Apparently there was a scuffle at the south entrance last night with some of the local punks jumping travelers. There's this new cult or gang around that's been rallying for revolution. I'm not really sure what that is about, as my wife and I just came back here last week and we're always busy for a while in the beginning. Regardless, the guards were not very well equipped to deal with something like this, so they came to my shop to purchase some good iron weapons to replace the broken wooden ones. I'm the only one selling iron around here."

The information was not as comprehensive as Link had hoped for, but it was valuable regardless. So the Vaatians had been hoping to ambush them last night? Maybe? They were up to something anyway. And the guards were somewhat incompetent, unless they actually managed to catch the culprits even with their weapons broken.

"I see", Sidon said with a frown. "That is worrisome. Was anyone hurt?"

"Not that I know. The guards didn't look too grim at least, so one should think not."

"I hope you're right." Link tapped Sidon's arm and gave him a look. Sidon smiled and shook his head in exasperation. "My impatient friend here would like to change the subject. You mentioned the iron weapons being foreign, and you don't look like a local either. Could you tell us about yourself to satisfy our curiosity?"

That was a needlessly long way to ask where she's from, but Link was starting to get used to Sidon's politeness with strangers, so he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and simply listened.

Wanderi chuckled. "Ah, it's been a while since I've been asked that. I'm from Death Mountain, and I'm a Mountain Minish."

Now she definitely had Link's undivided attention. Death Mountain was far away for a big person, so how did a Minish travel all that way? He was also beyond ecstatic to find that his guess about other kinds of Minish existing was correct! Take that, Misteri!

"I'm curious by nature, so as soon as I was old enough to travel, I left my home to see the world", Wanderi continued, and put the weapon she's been fingering down. "I had some fun adventures, and met my wife, Lizari, in the Hyrule Fields. She's a Field Minish, and the prettiest person I've ever met. She can talk to lizards and we can travel very fast by riding those critters, so we have homes all over the place and act as traveling merchants, more or less. My iron wares are straight from Death Mountain, and are very exotic by the local standards. It's really too bad I can't bring the local wares to the mountain without them burning right up. I can bring 'em Luminous stone weapons from the Water Kingdom at least."

The Water Kingdom?

Sidon was on it immediately without Link even needing to ask. He looked excited with his head tail moving back and forth. "Would the Water Kingdom happen to be Zora's Domain? South-east from here? Past the mountains?"

Wanderi looked thoughtful. "Maybe? The direction is about right. There's Swamplands first and then you follow the river east. That sound correct?"

"Yes!" Sidon said, now bouncing up and down. He was obviously more than ecstatic to learn of Minish existing in the Domain. "What do the Minish there look like there? What are they called?"

Link eyed the weapon selection again while the others talked. There were three daggers that he could see. One was wooden, and looked pretty shabby to him – the Minish had nothing on the Koroks when it came to wooden weaponry, it seemed. Another one was made from a thorn of some kind and looked sharp all around, like a rapier. Link liked that one. The last one was made from a stiff and sharp looking leaf. It was razor-edged, but the point didn't look very convincing; the green blade was very nice looking, though. It would be a tough choice.

"There's actually two kinds there: River Minish and Underwater Minish. The River type look plenty similar to the locals, while the Underwaters look frankly a lot like fish. They can't stay on land for long, those ones. They have cities below the water, but I obviously haven't visited."

"That's amazing! Link, we have to see them!"

Link smiled indulgently. 'Sure, let's put it on the list, but I doubt I can go to the underwater cities. I don't have gills to breathe there and can't hold my breath for long at all.'

Sidon looked like he had trouble deciding whether to be disappointed by Link's statement or continue to be joyful by the news themselves. Poor thing, but at least he could visit the underwater cities, unlike Link.

Link looked back and forth between the two weapons his eye had caught. The leaf blade was pretty and very exotic in an eye-catching way, but he had to admit that the thorn one looked more effective and versatile. It was always better if you could both stab and slash. In the end he picked up the thorn dagger and waved it at Wanderi.

"Oh, you're actually buying something?" she asked with a laugh. "I thought you just came to gawk at little old me. I'm liking this turn of events!"

Money changed owners, and Link slid his new dagger to his belt.

"Hey, if you're leaving now, might I suggest you visit Lizari's stall at some point? She sells dried foodstuff and spices down that ways", Wanderi said, and gestured a direction for them. It wasn't in their way to the city hall, but Link supposed they could visit it afterwards when they did their food supply purchasing, so he nodded.

"Have fun on your travels, if we don't happen to meet again!" Sidon said with a friendly wave.

"Likewise! Stay safe!"

Link smiled and waved. He really hoped they would eventually meet again, even if not on this journey. Perhaps in the Water Kingdom or Death Mountain some day? It was a nice thought.

ooooo

The rest of their journey through the marketplace was uneventful. Sure, they would have liked to stop at every tent and stall, but they refrained for now and concentrated on their mission. As such, they made their way to the city hall in good time.

Link and Sidon stopped before the building in question, openly gaping. In front of them was a cluster of large toadstool houses that were connected to each other at the base, and behind those was an even larger building that looked so out of place that it was astounding. It seemed to be a smooth granite block with moss growing on the top, and it was shimmering and sparkling faintly. Link squinted at it – the aura actually looked the same as kinstones when they activated. Curious.

'Can you see shimmering?' he asked Sidon.

"Where?" Sidon returned, which was enough of an answer on its own. Definitely the same magic as kinstones, then.

Link shook his head and smiled at Sidon, who was giving him a mildly curious look. 'Building. Never mind. Let's go in?'

Sidon continued looking at him for a short moment longer, before seemingly dismissing the questions he might have had – perhaps he figured it out on his own, as he had heard Mageri's explanation just as much as Link had.

They entered the largest toadstool of the cluster, and what they saw inside left them completely floored.

There were about a dozen children of varying sizes running around, playing tag. They were all dressed in red cloth robes, which was a rarity with the Minish, so they were probably either related or it was a uniform of some kind. Could even be both.

But what was a group of unruly children doing in a city hall?

...This was the city hall, right?

One of the bigger children stopped in their tracks after noticing the two of them at the door. "Oh! Visitors!" The kid turned to look at the other children, who had absolutely not noticed anything. "Guys! GUYS! Visitors!"

All of the children stopped practically at once, and turned to stare at the two of them with big, round, blinking eyes.

It was half cute and half eerie.

Then an avalanche of children ran their way and Link had to very consciously stop himself from grabbing his sword and shield to parry a perceived potential attack.

The kids grabbed them everywhere they could: their hands were taken, Sidon's arm fins were grabbed, they had kids hanging from their leafy tunics, and one of the kids moved behind Link to push him forward while another one did the same with Sidon.

"We're Festaris! Welcome to the city hall slash the abbey slash the entrance to the Deepwood Shrine!"

...Link had so, so many questions now.


End file.
